The Present and the Future of Controlling

The success of the 18^th annual Campus for Controlling, hosted by WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, speaks for itself. At this year’s event, some 160 chairpersons, senior-level managers, and controlling experts came together with the right mindset to help determine the future of controlling. The scheduled presentations and subsequent discussions focused on a variety of topics, including sustainability, the role played by the CFO during times of crisis, and how to work with analytics and digital tools.

ESG—or “environmental, social, governance”—colored much of the discussion that afternoon. Professor Utz Schäffer, together with Professor Marko Reimer, his co-director at the Institute of Management and Controlling (IMC), opened the conference with a presentation on the current state of affairs concerning the ESG-related aspirations of today’s companies. Citing a recent study conducted by the WHU Controller Panel, Professor Schäffer placed emphasis on how crucial it is to adopt an ESG strategy in controlling—and to consider controlling as a “single source of truth” within the company.

Melanie Kreis, CFO of the DHL Group, also spoke in her presentation about the necessity of implementing a comprehensive ESG strategy—even going so far as to give it parity with a company’s finances. She made note that sustainability is one of the DHL Group’s “corporate purposes.” And that transparency and high-quality data are necessary to ensure efficient management and commercialization of its ESG-related investments. 

Following a luncheon held in the foyer, Dr. Harald Nippel, CFO at LEONI AG, brought into focus the role of the controller in times of crisis. Taking LEONI AG as an example, he spoke of preventive restructuring measures (also referred to as “preventative restructuring frameworks”) under the StaRUG scheme. StaRUG provides debtors with a variety of options for restructuring in the event of insolvency. From Dr. Nippel’s point of view, how successful an ailing company can be in its restructuring is highly contingent on effective, consistent, and strong negotiating and a targeted forecast for the future.

The focus of the conference later shifted to the influence that digital tools, analytics, and artificial intelligence have on the daily core tasks of the controller. Dr. Robert Hauber, CFO and senior manager at Telekom Deutschland GmbH, spoke of his experiences with digital tools in the planning and controlling process. For example, he reported on the company’s digitalization journey and showed how machine learning systems aided in its strategic planning and monthly forecasting.

Before the conference concluded, data analyst Steven Lehmann of Johnson & Johnson noted the advantages and pitfalls of working with artificial intelligence. He outlined seven rules for how data analysts should act in light of a potential future crisis to guarantee a positive outcome for the company.

The 19^th annual WHU Campus for Controlling is scheduled for September 5, 2025, also to be held on WHU’s campus in Vallendar.