As a business controller, you’re at the heart of your company’s financial planning process. Change can be exciting, but with it comes increased complexity, and you’re tasked with making sure the financial planning system can keep up. From managing day-to-day operations to providing strategic insight to the leadership team, the financial system you oversee must be robust enough to support not only change, but also the complexity that comes with it.

This checklist will help you evaluate whether your current system is ready to handle growth and change while keeping up with the demands of your role as a business controller.

As your company expands, so do the data points, transactions, and financial structures that you need to manage. Your role as a business controller means being the gatekeeper of financial accuracy. If your financial system can’t scale to accommodate these increased demands, you’ll face delays, bottlenecks, and inaccurate reports—potentially compromising key business decisions.

Key question: Can your system seamlessly scale to handle more data and business units, allowing you to maintain accuracy and efficiency in financial reporting?

Manual data entry that needs to triple checked for errors, consolidating reports, and variance analysis are time-consuming, especially when dealing with growing operations. Automation is your best friend here. It frees you up from routine tasks and decreases risk of human errors, letting you focus on providing high-level insights that drive strategy. An automated system ensures that financial data is always up-to-date, reducing errors and giving you more time to support the CFO and leadership team with actionable insights.

Key question: Is your financial planning system automating enough processes to give you more time for strategic analysis, or are manual tasks still eating up your day?

In your role, you are often responsible for providing the leadership team with forecasts and financial insights that drive key decisions. Having real-time access to financial data is crucial—static, outdated reports won’t cut it in a fast-moving business environment. The ability to forecast in real-time means you can offer accurate, timely information to senior management, helping them make informed decisions faster.

Key question: Can your system deliver real-time data to help you stay ahead of market changes and provide up-to-the-minute forecasts to leadership?

Growth brings uncertainty, and as the business controller, it’s your job to ensure the company is prepared for any scenario. Whether it’s a new market entry, a pricing change, or a supply chain disruption, your financial system needs to support advanced scenario planning. This allows you to present different “what-if” scenarios to the leadership team, helping them anticipate challenges and opportunities.

Key question: Can your system model various scenarios and give you the data to guide the leadership team through complex financial decisions?

As the go-to person for financial data, you often collaborate with different departments—from sales and marketing to operations and HR. You need a system that allows secure, efficient collaboration while maintaining strict control over who can access sensitive financial data. Your financial planning system should enable cross-departmental collaboration without risking data security, ensuring that the right people have access to the right data.

Key question: Does your financial planning system allow you to collaborate securely with other departments while ensuring access control over sensitive financial data?

As your company grows, so does its exposure to different regulations—whether it’s new tax requirements, financial reporting standards, or ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) obligations. As a business controller, you’re responsible for ensuring compliance across the board. Your financial system must help you stay ahead of these regulatory requirements, automating compliance tasks and reducing the risk of non-compliance.

Key question: Is your financial planning system equipped to help you manage complex compliance requirements, or are you relying on manual processes that increase risk?

As your company grows, more departments will likely interact with the financial system. You’re the expert, but department heads and non-financial staff may need to access the system for budgeting and forecasting. A user-friendly interface ensures that everyone can get the data they need without bogging you down with constant support requests. A system that’s too complicated can slow down processes and make collaboration more difficult.

Key question: Is your system intuitive enough for non-financial users, reducing their reliance on you and allowing them to take ownership of their financial data?

As a business controller, you’re at the center of managing your company’s financial growth. The financial planning system you rely on needs to be flexible, efficient, and capable of handling increased complexity. From scalability and automation to real-time insights and compliance, each of these factors impacts your ability to deliver the high-quality financial reporting and analysis that leadership depends on.

If your current system is struggling to keep up, it may be time to consider an upgrade. At Intito, we help business controllers like you implement financial planning solutions that handle both volume and complexity. We have done it for years. Maybe we can help you as well. Contact us here.