Just like in the previous years, the ICV newsletter “Controller’s E-News” asked about 13.000 practising controllers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland for their opinion regarding the economic prospects of their companies in 2010. 56% of the persons asked expect better results in 2010 (2009: 22%; 2008: 51%), 27% reckon with no changes (2009: 34%; 2008: 34%) and 17% predicted a decline as compared to 2009 (2009: 44%; 2008: 15%). „At the beginning of 2010 the economic situation is less tense that last year. Most of the companies reckon with the end of the downturn and with better financial results, although the basic conditions do not call for euphoria” says Siegfried Gänsslen, chairman of the ICV and CEO of Hansgrohe AG (picture). “In order to make sure of the sustainability of the company, controlling as the ‘business management conscious’ needs to think in perspective and to give innovative impulses”, says Gänsslen. This is the main focus of the various ICV activities in 2010 in 12 European countries.

More:

The 35th Controllers’ Congress, the annual meeting place for “who ist who” in the European controlling community, will be organised by the Internationaler Controller Verein (ICV) on 14 - 15 June 2010 in Munich. The congress bears the motto “Intelligent controlling: ensuring success, working out chances”. Famous controlling experts will explain how modern, intelligent controlling contributes to the success of a company. The best exemplary controlling solution will be awarded the well-known ControllerPrize for the eighth time. There are four topic centers representing the points of interest as regards content: “Successful liquidity management”, “Innovative services controlling”, “Intelligent cost management and social responsibility” as well as “Effective corporate controlling”. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Péter Horváth will present the trends in controlling from the point of view of the ICV Dream Factory.
The programme of the Controllers’ Congress will be posted on the ICV-website soon.

Would you travel from abroad (outside  D, A, CH) to the congress in case it were held in English as well?

Yes
No

The Internationaler Controller Verein (ICV) advertised the „ControllerPrize 2010" endowed with 5.000 Euros for „exemplary controlling solutions". The prize will be awarded after the decision of an international jury on 14 June 2010 on the occasion of the largest controlling conference in Europe, the „35th Controllers' Congress" in Munich (14 -15 June 2010).
The ControllerPrize is awarded by the ICV for the eighth time for exemplary controller work within companies and other organisations. One speaks about an exemplary controlling solution, if this leads to a significant change which is field-proven; this change does not only concern the controlling department itself, but makes the entire company successful; the change must be developed by controllers internally and lead to new paths.
The following pieces of information must be provided: the situation before and after the controlling solution / project; occasion; objectives; implementation; parties concerned; experiences; statements on the contribution of the project to the company's success.
If you have questions you may address them to the Controlling Department, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Weber, Otto Beisheim School of Management, Institut für Management und Controlling (IMC), Tel. +49-261-6509 471.
The deadline for sending the participation documents to the ICV office, D-82131 Gauting, Leutstettener Str 2, mailto:c.guenther@controllerverein.de is 28 February 2010. You can download the necessary questionnaire at ICV-website
under the article “ControllerPrize 2010”.

In 2008 the ICV PR committee started a new initiative to benefit from the possibilities offered by web 2.0. The committee wanted to make the controllers’ know-how available to everyone and to create a space for public discussions. This is how the idea to create a wiki for controllers was born. The ICV board was also enthusiastic about it and promised already in October 2008 to support the project. The PR committee got in touch with different authors in order to collect relevant topics and interesting essays and received confirmations for 169 articles. At the same time the technical preparations were done by the internet agency Qbus in Rostock. The knowledge platform for controllers ControllingWiki went live already in May 2009.

More about the history and the current situation of the ICV-ControllingWiki:
ControllingWiki:

The Internationaler Controller Verein (ICV) has appointed Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Péter Horváth, managing director of the International Performance Research Institute gGmbH (IPRI) and chairman of the Horváth AG (picture), and Dr. Uwe Michel, Senior Partner and head of the Competence Center Controlling and Finance at Horváth & Partners, leaders of the association's dream factory, “ICV-Ideenwerkstatt”. The dream factory will systematically and regularly analyse the controlling practice as well as the controlling relevant environment and work out new ideas for further developing the controlling. Findings from related disciplines as well as ecological and social developments will be evaluated and prepared with regard to their relevance for controlling. As “germ cell” for innovations in controlling, the ICV's dream factory increased its staff in November 2009 and focused on new topics. The dream factory aims at starting new projects, thus strengthening the role of the ICV as theme setter in the financial and controlling community. Prof. Horváth took over the leadership from the founder and long-term director of the committee, Manfred Blachfellner. The ICV Board thanked Blachfellner for his work in a dignified manner.

More:
ICV-Ideenwerkstatt” (German):

There are a lot of women effectually working for the ICV. The ICV PR- committee has decided to introduce some of these active members from different countries at the ICV-website. After first portrait interviews with Milena Staeva from Bulgaria, Nicoleta Thomka from Romania, Anja Gondolf from Germany and Aiste Lörgen from Lithuania today we present Doris Mailänder (Germany), General Manager of a specialist recruitment consultancy for finance & controlling, deputy head of the German ICV work group “Nord I”.

More:

In 2010 many German companies are planning to switch from pure restructuring to focusing on boosting efficiency. This is the finding of a joint study carried out by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and the International Controller Association (ICV), which surveyed more than 50 CFOs and managers at manufacturing companies. The focus of the survey was on the optimization levers companies plan to use in 2010. These levers cover the entire value chain. Thus, the "Operations Efficiency Radar" serves as a CFO decision-making tool for financial planning in 2010 and a discussion basis for coordinating with other departments. Next year, companies will be focusing on product portfolios, production, working capital management and innovation and development. The days of pure cutting costs are over.

Survey report (German/PDF):

The career advice column written by the HR expert Darren Payne from Robert Half International in Austria running on the English ICV website presents a new article. The latest column gives advice on a question regarding a framework for pay negotiations.
Mr. Payne answers the readers’ questions on career planning and job change. He is looking forward to numerous requests. The selected questions will be answered anonymously.

More:
Contact Darren Payne: