Content and objectives

Controlling supports a company's management in planning, implementing, and monitoring processes in the operational and financial areas. It essentially addresses two key questions:

1. How can management be supported in its decision-making process ?
2. How can management be supported in controlling the implementation processes and the people involved?

To answer these questions, controlling draws on a wide range of information, primarily from internal but also external company accounting.

This Major provides students with broad, practice-oriented, and theoretically sound specialist and methodological knowledge of the instruments available for decision support and behavioral control, and how these should be designed and coordinated in business practice, taking risks into account. The goal is for all decisions within the company to contribute as effectively as possible to increasing the company's long-term value.

 

Structure of the majors s

Business Administration (B.Sc.) / Major Controlling
Cost Management (472)	Prof. Dr. Timo Kachel	6 CrP
Strategic Controlling (471)	Prof. Dr. Gero Holthoff	6 CrP
Operational Controlling (573)	Prof. Dr. Gero Holthoff	6 CrP
Standard software for finance and controlling (400)	Prof. Dr. Gerrit Sames	6 CrP

Building on the fundamental knowledge of actual full costing acquired in the third semester, students in the Cost Management module (472) become familiar with various standard costing systems, which can be used to influence costs in terms of level, structure, and behavior. Strategic Controlling (471) deals with the long-term planning, implementation, and control of strategic courses of action and investments, which—in line with value- and risk-oriented management—are to be geared toward increasing company value. Operational Controlling (573) finally explores how the achievement of long-term corporate goals can be supported operationally through suitable planning, implementation, and control instruments.
In Module 400, students learn about the functionality of a common standard software for finance and controlling, .

Note on Module 400 (Standard software for finance and controlling)This module is also part of the Medium-Sized Companies & Entrepreneurship Major . If you wish to combine both majors , module 400 will generally be credited towards the Medium-Sized Companies & Entrepreneurship Major . Alternatively, the following modules can be credited towards the Major Controlling in this case:

Business Administration of Financial Institutions (411)
Financial Markets (412)
Market research (431)
Balance Sheets and Tax Law (461)
Income taxes (462)
Corporate Banking (513)
Private wealth analysis and planning (514)
Standard software for human resources (554)
Auditing (563)
Current topics in Tax Consulting and Auditing (564)
General Tax Law (712)
Introduction to Operations Research (715)
Revenue and risk management in financial institutions (716)
Business & Leadership Ethics (717)
International Accounting (718)
International Tax Law (720)
Current topics in controlling (722)
Insurance Theory (727)
Sustainable Finance (NM406)
Standard software for logistics (583)

If you have any questions, please contact the Major management (This email address is being protected from spam bots! To display JavaScript must be turned on! ).

Recommended elective modules

Since controlling performs cross-cutting tasks, this Major can be effectively combined with all modules from other majors or elective modules. For individual advice, please contact the Major coordinator.

Occupational and professional fields

Graduates of the Controlling Major can be employed in central controlling departments as well as in decentralized areas (e.g., marketing controlling, human resources controlling) or project controlling. Common areas of activity for a controller include, for example...

• Evaluation of strategies and long-term investments
• Operational business planning and budgeting
• Performance measurement and profitability analyses
• Design of key performance indicator (KPI) systems and collection of KPIs
• Controls and deviation analyses
• Information management and reporting
• Management consulting
• Project management

Career prospects

Graduates of the Controlling Major are not limited to traditional controlling positions in industry, commerce, or the service sector. Solid controlling knowledge is also highly valued in other fields, such as consulting, project management, or executive assistance.

Cooperations

The Major Controlling maintains strong connections with regional, national, and international companies and professional associations. Internships, projects, and practice-oriented theses facilitate a lively exchange with industry. Furthermore, lecturers and speakers from the field of controlling are integrated into the curriculum.