Controlling in Action – Examples from Practice

At the 4th International Conference on Controlling, examples from practice were presented that highlight the important role of controlling in business. Concrete examples illustrated the role of controlling in the process of merging two companies, changing ownership structures, and optimizing company operations.

Controlling in Action in the Formation Process of the Makromikro Group

The merger process of Stublić Impex and Makromikro, leading to the formation of the Makromikro Group, aimed at becoming one of the leading companies in the segment of selling IT materials, office supplies, and paper products, was presented by Jasmina Očko, a controlling consultant from Kontroling Kognosko. Makromikro was engaged in the retail of IT devices and accessories, while Stublić was involved in the wholesale of office supplies and paper products.

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– Although the common vision of the owners was very clear and communication among them was excellent, the challenges on the path of merging that began in 2015 were significant. Two different business structures with different business models, corporate cultures, and customs were merged, Očko explained.

The owners faced questions such as: Which business model is better? Which IT solution is more efficient? Which organizational scheme is more effective? Since they could not find a simple answer, they decided that it was the right time for controlling.

– It was necessary to connect strategic goals with appropriate operational activities. Every job position and every operational activity was recorded to create a list of all activities. After that, it was necessary to quantify the data and determine how much time is invested in a specific activity and establish standardized time for performing each action, she said.

The process of recording jobs and activities was also used to detect difficulties in work processes and agree on a unified protocol, which is essential for aligning operational tasks with strategic goals, calculating the cost of individual activities, eliminating activities that do not create new value, fair and objective distribution of tasks, and measuring efficiency and fulfilling operational tasks.

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In her presentation, Očko detailed how the new organizational structure was created, the concept of cost accounting was developed, and how the planning and budgeting system was established.

– The next phase is the development of a reward system for which the company has all the prerequisites, concluded Jasmina Očko.

Application of Econometrics and Statistics in Operational Controlling Using the Example of Polish Post

Karol Sikora, a lecturer in the postgraduate program at the Warsaw School of Economics and an employee of Polish Post, shared with attendees his experience of using controlling in improvements that were necessary for the functioning of Polish Post, where the unavailability of data from the previous month during the first 15 days of the current month was identified as a key problem. You can find the solution and the process of its implementation here.

– Our solution perfectly meets our needs. We did not spend a dime. We used tools we already had and other free tools. Compared to the 15 days of waiting for data, the progress is indeed significant. We also achieved a revenue growth of 1%. Perhaps the most important advantage, from my perspective, is the noticeable increase in competence in my department. Among other things, our colleagues had to improve or acquire knowledge of the R programming language and MS SQL, said Sikora.

Controlling After the Change of Ownership Structure

Edyta Szarska Cima from Controlling Partner spoke about three Polish companies with the same goal – to sell themselves. In her presentation titled ‘One Step Ahead of the Future – Three Case Studies of Controlling After the Change of Ownership Structure’, Szarska Cima explained how controlling is implemented in the mentioned companies that successfully changed their business model.

– It has been shown that a modern successful controller must respect the members of their team, as well as understand and trust them. Trust and data freedom will make your team members more responsible and they will strive harder in their work, the Polish woman explained.

Authors: Nikolin Oršulić, Luka Fišić