Controller: life behind the many hats.

AuthorCytron, Scott H.
PositionCover Story

Just as the CPA's traditional role of serving clients continues to evolve, the position most everyone thinks of as a company's financial expert--the controller--is changing rapidly. An effective controller must be much more than a reviewer of financial statements or company controls. Today's controller wears many different hats: manager, communications guru, employee trainer and, not surprisingly, number cruncher--certainly not the image most stakeholders have when they think of the modern corporate controller.

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"The job description for an accountant is about 90 percent technical skills verses 10 percent people skills; in a controller position, those numbers are reversed," says John S. Purtill Jr., CPA, of Purtill & Company in Cheshire, Conn. Purtill has written several courses on controllership for The Ohio Society of CPAs, and says that today's controllers do much more than meets the eye. In reality, they have a permanent seat at the executive roundtable.

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"Today's controllers have to participate in the strategic management of the company, help people and organizations make better decisions, set and achieve business goals, and keep everyone informed about how the company is run," Purtill said.

It's the "soft skills" of management that often trip up even the most experienced person with a top-notch financial background.

"That's where I see some controllers fail," he says. "What I find is that if the person is really good at keeping the books, he or she is not so good at handling the development of people. Team building is an essential skill, and it's something that is not taught in any accounting school."

Bob Kellerman, CPA (inactive), CFO for GK Packaging Inc., agrees. Kellerman started working for one of his longtime clients after spending over 25 years with a local accounting firm.

"In public practice, being a good 'technician' determines your success. As a financial executive, being too focused on technical skills can actually be a detriment," says Kellerman.

Jeff Nutter, CPA, controller at Marion Technical College, says he spends the biggest portion of his time--as much as 25 percent--resolving problems, and the least amount of time devoted to actual accounting work.

"I spend my day doing many different things," says Nutter. "There are meetings to attend, reports to file, and general business to handle. Accounting work is the smallest portion of my time."

Kellerman takes that sentiment even further. "I spend about 40 percent of my time solving problems not related to typical accounting work.... A lot of what I use to handle on the periphery when I was in public practice I now deal with directly, such as human resources and risk management issues."

Purtill asserts that people skills are perhaps the most important attribute a controller can have, and, in fact, non-CPAs...

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