Chief financial officers (CFOs) have long viewed financial controllers as important and trusted collaborators — and rightly so. As the “safe pair of hands” who oversee their organizations’ accounting and reporting, controllers have a unique understanding of their data, financial position and performance. Often, they are also integral to their CFO’s succession plans, with many controllers acceding to the top finance job.
In today’s complex and demanding business landscape, the controller’s role is more important than ever. But it’s also on the cusp of significant change. This change is a response to the “Age of And” — an age when finance teams are expected to deliver high performance. So, while they remain trusted guardians of their organizations’ financial integrity, controllers are increasingly helping to drive business success in their capacity as skilled transformation partners to the CFO.
A new EY report, the 2024 Global DNA of the Financial Controller, underlines the scale of the evolution that is underway. The vast majority (86%) of controllers surveyed expect their role to change significantly over the next five years; and a quarter (26%) of respondents believe that in five years’ time, the role will involve a very different and unknown skill set compared with today.
When asked how the controller’s role would evolve, the most common answer — cited by 39% of respondents — was that it would shift from being largely focused on value protection (such as regulatory compliance) and value optimization (such as driving efficiencies), to embracing value creation — in other words actively supporting business growth. In total, 1,000 financial controllers across 28 countries were surveyed for the research.
For CFOs, the report poses — and answers — an urgent question. How can they capitalize on the evolution in controllership as the scope and expectations of their own role expand?
Transformational opportunities
The research identifies three transformational opportunities for controllers to create tangible value for their organizations. First, they can transform data into action. That involves mining the organization’s data — and combining it with external data — to gain insights that drive better enterprise decision-making.
Of the controllers surveyed, 32% currently lead on data analytics and reporting at an enterprise level. So, there is an opportunity for many CFOs to encourage their controllers to assume this mantle and proactively collaborate with other functions in the production of robust business information. This information can create value by informing strategy and help to build trust between the organization and its external stakeholders.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is another value-creating opportunity for controllers. The research suggests that controllers are already embracing AI tools. In fact, 89% of those surveyed say they have already adopted AI, while 65% claim to use generative AI (GenAI) on a frequent basis.
CFOs can capitalize on their controllers’ interest in AI by inviting them to help drive AI-enabled transformation across the whole enterprise. Controllers could be involved with the identification of potential use cases while simultaneously helping to build confidence in the technologies. As an example, they could assess whether the outputs of AI — and GenAI, in particular — meet the necessary requirements for reliability, transparency and explainability, and evaluate how new forward-looking, value-creating applications could impact compliance reporting requirements.
Sustainability is the third transformational opportunity for controllers to create value. Perhaps surprisingly — given the increasing adoption of sustainability reporting standards in many markets — most controllers stated that they are not currently highly engaged with sustainability. Just 43% of those surveyed expect to be frequently involved with sustainability considerations in financial planning and reporting in five years’ time. That’s a moderate increase from 36% of respondents who are frequently involved today.
Yet, controllers can potentially play a critical role in helping their organizations hit their stated sustainability targets, by supporting reporting processes and integrating sustainability with business performance. This could involve sourcing new kinds of data, implementing new systems, building new processes and establishing new checks and controls. Controllers could also take responsibility for communicating the organization’s financial and nonfinancial performance to stakeholders, including the board, analysts and investors.
Innovation-oriented mindset
An innovation-oriented mindset is key if controllers are to create great value through data, AI and sustainability. Yet just 43% of the controllers surveyed for the research see being innovative as an important quality for their role.
What’s more, controllers do not necessarily view innovation as an opportunity to create value, which may reflect the expectations of their organizations. When controllers innovate, they tend to focus on value optimization, such as cost-saving strategies (46% of respondents), rather than on value creation, such as using data insights to recommend strategic opportunities (34% of respondents).
Confident controllers lead the way when it comes to team building, mentoring and career building, with 52% saying they devote significant time to these activities, compared with 28% of other controllers. Yet expectations of controllers remain high. So, they may feel they lack the time, talent and resources to pursue innovation-related opportunities.
The challenge can come when determining how to prioritize resources effectively to maximize their impact. For example, 59% of controllers surveyed said that although their organization encourages them to evolve into a value creator to a large or very large extent, they are currently not getting the right support to do this. While 64% of controllers surveyed said they would benefit from mentoring and coaching, comparatively only a few are provided with additional budget (20% of respondents) or staff with an innovation mindset (10% of respondents). CFOs can step in to help prioritize and allocate resources effectively. By providing their controllers with the necessary support in the form of people, budget and technology, CFOs can empower controllers to explore innovation and develop the skills required to drive value creation.
Leading the way
The research identified a set of financial controllers (25% of the overall sample) who are already actively creating value through technology. This group is described as “confident controllers.” Nearly two in five (37%) lead on innovation compared with 25% of other controllers surveyed and almost half (45%) lead on enterprise-wide analytics and reporting (1.7 times higher than other controllers).
Confident controllers are more likely to be longer tenured and see their role as a destination. They also demonstrate the qualities of change agents who have the skills and expertise to help lead the finance function into the future. They are much more likely than other controllers to devote time to team development, integration of sustainability within financial reporting, finance innovation, and the adoption of digital tools and AI within finance. These are all value-creating activities that can help their organizations shape the future with confidence.
Today’s CFOs have an opportunity to develop a new cohort of confident controllers. That means equipping them with the mindsets and skill sets they will need to succeed. For example, they could encourage their controllers to take on additional responsibilities and increase their exposure to disciplines such as financial planning and analysis (FP&A), treasury and investor relations. The time required for these additional responsibilities could be freed up by the use of automation, application of AI and other technologies that can be leveraged in more traditional areas of responsibility. They could also boost their controllers’ engagement with the C-suite and other key internal and external stakeholders.
To unleash their controllers’ full potential and attract the top controller talent in a highly competitive market, CFOs must position the financial controller as a dynamic and strategic force within their organizations. In this context, controllers can balance their role as a steward of financial data with that of creating value and empowering organizations on their path to growth.
Download the 2024 EY Global DNA of the Financial Controller Report.
Join our EY webcast How can finance deliver reporting to shape the future with confidence? in February 2025, where the discussion will focus on the expanded responsibilities of financial controllers and CFOs, the growing importance of nonfinancial value drivers and the challenges of reporting and investor trust.
By Myles Corson, EY Global and Americas Strategy and Markets Leader, Financial Accounting Advisory Services. The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.