STUDIES WITH THE ICV OR BY PARTNERS/MEMBERS OF THE ICV

ICV Green Controlling Study 2022

The aim of the ICV Green Controlling Study 2022 was to determine the status quo of green controlling in companies in the DACH region and to compare it with the results of the two previous ICV green controlling studies from 2011 and 2016. In addition, the relevance of individual trends and upcoming challenges were worked out.

The ICV Expert Work Group Green Controlling for Responsible Business organizes the study together with the  ICV Think Tank. 

Authors: Andrea Kämmler-Burrak, Horváth & Partner GmbH, Stuttgart; Dr. Marco Möhrer, Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart; Prof. Dr. Peter Rötzel, Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg, Aschaffenburg; Prof. Dr. Mike Schulze, CBS International Business School, Mainz; Nils Gimpl, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Frankfurt/Main. 

The study is available in GERMAN here in the ICV OnlineShop as a PDF download:

  • Free of charge for the ICV members
  • For non-members for 29,00 euros (gross)

 

IGC Study Report: Digitization in Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting

Management Summary: The study of IGC International Group of Controlling sets out to explore the application of digital instruments and digitalized processes in corporate planning, budgeting and forecasting. Digital instruments encompass statistical methods, business analytics and the like while digitalized processes are either fully automated and done by
a software or bots perform previous manual tasks with robotic process automation. Planning, budgeting and forecasting are especially suitable for this discussion because they involve many sets of information and consume many resources in firms.

In the area of operational planning and budgeting, the following technologies for digitization are primarily mentioned in the literature: Big Data, Predictive Analytics, Business Analytics. In addition, the possibility of using artificial intelligence (AI for short) is discussed, especially in forecasting.

Use cases in practice range from the introduction of specific tools for digitization to the implementation of a company-wide integrated planning, budgeting and forecasting solution with AI and analytics components, which can be used for simulation purposes, for example.

Companies pursue a variety of goals with the introduction of technologies in planning, budgeting and forecasting. Besides reducing variances and improving the quality of planning and forecasting, there is also a push to increase automation and the associated reduction in costs.

It is apparent that the current state of digitization in planning, budgeting and forecasting is low and the adoption of technologies is still limited. Only a small proportion of the companies surveyed reported that they already had experience with the technologies mentioned above. This holds except for the use of driver models and scenario planning which are more widespread.

Proven methods are primarily used for planning and budgeting (traditional planning, classic budgeting). However, rolling planning and, in some cases, better budgeting are gaining in relevance.

The study hints to several roadblocks for digitization. The main obstacles are the lack of knowledge and insufficient capacities. Problems of acceptance and an insufficient information base are also
a challenge. The case for introducing digital technologies is also hard to make, especially in regard to financial outcomes.

We thank IGC - International Group of Controlling - for providing this study.

Hackett study: European Companies Significantly Reduced SG&A Expenses in 2021

After many years of stability in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs, European companies dramatically improved their efficiency in 2021, cutting SG&A expenses by nearly 7% in response to an increasingly challenging business environment, according to new research from The Hackett Group.

The Hackett Group’s first-ever “2022 European SG&A Study and Scorecard” examines the SG&A expenses of the 1,000 largest listed companies in Europe. The study results break down operational cost performance in 11 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) industry sectors, and lists top performers and laggards for each industry.

The study found that European companies reduced SG&A costs to 13.7% of revenue, down from 14.7% in 2020. This drop of 6.8% is unprecedented in recent history. But

the decline was also largely restricted to just a few of the 11 sectors in Europe. Improvements were only seen in four sectors – consumer staples, health care, materials and utilities. Six other sectors remained stable, while one – real estate, actually saw SG&A expenses increase.

Download the study here

Hackett: Inflation in the focus of two studies 2022

In the current studies "Understanding and Managing the Impacts of Inflation" and "The Hackett Group's Finance Guide to Effectively Manage and Mitigate Inflation", The Hackett Group publishes recommendations for action on how to successfully counteract the effects of inflation. Summarizing the results of both studies, here are the six areas and focal points that are important:

  • Product and service mix, pricing strategies, customer segments and sales channels
  • Intelligent cost management
  • Smart Sourcing
  • Wages and compensation structures
  • Hedging strategies – forex, commodities and interest rates
  • Provision of relevant skills
  • Retention management

Important approaches and focal points are:

  • Employees with inflation experience are valuable. Economic forecasts assume that inflation will persist over the long term. Forward-looking planning and valid forecasts are therefore important. A lack of experience of finance employees with inflation in Germany can be compensated for by the targeted deployment of employees who are already experienced in dealing with inflation. Greater use should be made of the skills of employees who have already worked in highly inflationary countries such as Argentina or Brazil, or new staff with this prerequisite should be recruited.
  • Sales planning and management. Increasing procurement and production costs have an impact on sales and margins, which should be countered by effective customer and profitability planning. Optimized customer prices and rationalization of the product and service mix, as well as effective cooperation with sales and marketing are decisive for optimizing sales and earnings.
  • Intelligent cost management. Finance must work closely with senior management to analyze short and long-term risks and benefits. This ranges from optimizing the supplier portfolio to ensuring the ability to deliver in the long term, also through vertical integration. In this context, The Hackett Group repeatedly points out the need to use digital "best of breed tools" in enterprise performance management or to generally increase the efficiency of processes. In this way, the performance of Finance can be significantly increased and costs can be sustainably reduced.
  • Reserve and secure finance talents. Increasing employee turnover is expensive, leads to losses in knowledge and productivity and causes falling motivation and loss of reputation - not only in times of crisis. To counteract this, the finance management level must improve communication between management and staff, offer development opportunities, adjust wages and remuneration in line with the market and offer hybrid workplace models. Finance should make the workplace culture as attractive as possible through incentive systems in order to be able to benefit from qualified workers even in crisis mode.

Minimum requirements to get the inflation risks under control: In addition to absolute baseline transparency on the cost side, the orientation of the price strategy, including the skimming off of possible price increase potentials, is becoming increasingly important. And: We do not recommend reprioritizing planned investments in digital transformation so as not to jeopardize or delay future contributions to value creation.

The ICV corporate member The Hackett Group has made the detailed result of one of the two studies available to our readers for direct download here:

 

Study: Understanding and Managing the Impact of Inflation

To the podcast "How to manage and mitigate inflation"

Hackett Study 2022 Key Issues: The Finance Agenda

The crisis year 2022 once again poses major challenges for the finance sector

The expectations of finance executives for the 2022 financial year are and remain ambivalent. They rely on growth and expansion in the area of digitization and business areas, but they also know about the enormous effort involved in risk management with a view to supply chains, for example. Risks that are already foreseeable include the "war of talent", cyber risks and increases in inflation. There are also external factors such as the course of the pandemic and war events such as those currently taking place in Ukraine. All of this further exacerbates the uncertainty in the markets.

The ambivalences are shown in detail in the study "2022 Key Issues: The Finance Agenda". It highlights four tasks that finance executives see as priorities for 2022. The study is based on the statements of 250 international top-level executives. You can download it for free here on The Hackett Group's external site http://go.poweredbyhackett.com/22finkey2201sm or directly below.

You can download the Study here

Hackett Study 2021: The new digital world-class finance standard

Added value for financial organizations through cloud, RPA and smart analytics

The Hackett Group benchmarks have been the reference parameters for globally active companies in the area of ​​business unit performance for decades. "World Class Performance" has been the standard so far. In order to take into account the current developments and effects of the digital transformation, the ICV corporate member Hackett Group has raised the bar to a new level: The Digital World-Class Finance Standard. A current Hackett Study provides information on how the new standard can be achieved and what advantages can be achieved. To this end, around 200 large international companies with sales of over one billion US dollars were examined, mostly via benchmarking, but also in projects ̶ the proportion of European companies is around 40 percent, including leading DAX and MDAX companies.

The central finding: digitization measures significantly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of financial organizations, added value is achieved through the cloud, RPA and smart analytics.

You can download the study here

WHU CONTROLLER PANEL in cooperation with the ICV

From the left: Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer, WHUhu (WHU mascot), Prof. Dr. Marko Reimer, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Weber (Source: WHU)

The WHU Controller Panel was founded in cooperation with the ICV in 2007 and since then has offered scientifically sound analyzes and practice-relevant benchmarks on all important facets of controlling. It is led under the joint directorship by Prof. Dr. Marko Reimer, Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer und Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Jürgen Weber. Over 1,000 members regularly take part in the studies.

The regular survey on relevant longitudinal topics enables statements about development of controlling in the German-speaking area (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Studies highlight both current trends and core controlling issues.

Are you interested in the results and analyzes of the WHU Controller Panel? Then register at whu-controller-panel.de.

Membership is free and can be canceled at any time. You are invited to participate in a study three times a year; answering the online questionnaire usually takes about 10 minutes. The surveys are anonymous and all information is kept strictly confidential.

Contact:

  • Prof. Dr. Marco Reimer
  • Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Jürgen Weber

E-mail: whu-controllerpanel@whu.edu

WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management
Institute of Management Accounting and Control (IMC)

 

Topics WHU Controller Panel 2021

  • Controller salaries in the corona crisis
  • Sustainable corporate management
  • A look into the future: Focus on forecasting
  • How controllers and IT shape the future of controlling

Topics WHU Controller Panel 2020

 
  • Controller in focus: salary, performance appraisal and roles
  • 1. Flash study on the corona crisis: How do CFOs and controllers currently assess the situation in their companies? (March 2020)
  • 2. Flash study on the corona crisis: How do CFOs and controllers currently assess the situation in their companies? (May 2020)
  • 4. WHU future study: The future topics of controlling Risk Management and Resilience
  • Risk Management and Resilience

OPERATIONS EFFICIENCY RADAR by the ICV and Roland Berger

Results 2019

Every second CFO anticipates a weaker economy in 2019. The CFOs in the automotive industry as well as in plant and mechanical engineering are particularly skeptical. Here, 93 and 56 percent expect a downturn. Reason: political instability and rising interest rates.

In 2019, 74 percent of the companies surveyed will focus on the product portfolio. Objective: reduce costs and meet customer needs. Other important fields of action:

  • Production
  • Controlling & Finance
  • Sales & Marketing
  • Purchasing

Working Capital Management is also mentioned as a focus factor more often than in previous years. That too underscores the expectation of a downturn. For Prof. Dr. Heimo Losbichler, Chairman of the ICV, it is obvious: "Controlling is a key element of successful corporate management in the upswing and in the downswing".

 

 

The Operation Efficiency Radar by the ICV and Roland Berger analyzes in the previous year the company plans for the coming year. The resulting levers are worked out as important decision-making aids for CFOs and heads of controlling.

The Study as a PDF download

Solving corporate planning in the community - ICV and Thinking Networks AG

2019

Study by the ICV and the Thinking Networks AG. 

Update #1: Status quo in corporate planning
Read the following content here:

  • Planning becomes more dynamic
  • Planning is teamwork
  • The departments have power
  • German controlling is lagging slightly behind
  • This is where the planning shoe pinches
  • Planning matters

If you click here you open a new page by the ICV Study Partner Thinking Networks - in GERMAN

Update #2: Focus on decentralized planning in organizations
Read the following content here:

  • Excel the popular all-purpose weapon for cross-departmental data collection
  • Connecting data - Mission Impossible?
  • Controlling remains critical
  • Planning takes time

If you click here you open a new page by the ICV Study Partner Thinking Networks - in GERMAN

Update #3: The Cloud Option
Read the following content here:

  1. Cloud becomes normal

  2. Cloud potential in sight

  3. Private vs. business cloud

If you click here you open a new page by the ICV Study Partner Thinking Networks - in GERMAN

 

Im Video werden die Ergebnisse der Studie "Unternehmensplanung als Gemeinschaft lösen" vorgestellt. Sie wurde in Kooperation der Thinking Networks AG und des ICV durchgeführt. Mehr als 150 TeilnehmerInnen aus dem deutschsprachigen BI Markt wurden dafür befragt. Die Studie leistet damit einen empirischen Beitrag zum Stand der Unternehmensplanung. Erhoben wurden die Daten im September/Oktober 2019. 

Inhalt dieser Seite

Expert Work Group Green Controlling and the ICV Think Tank
Green Controlling Study (2022)

IGC International Group of Controlling
Study Report: Digitization in Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting

The Hackett Group Studien
Hackett: European Companies Significantly Reduced SG&A Expenses in 2021
Hackett: Inflation iin the focus of two studies 2022
Hackett Study: 2022 Finance Key Issues
Hackett Study 2021: The New Digital World-Class Finance Standard

Regular studies:

YOU CAN ALSO FIND FURTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION HERE:

ICV Literature

ICV publication series and ICV White Papers

ICV PODCASTS

Podcasts from the ICV events, ICV awards, from ICV members, ICV partners and more. 

Benchmarking by the ICV and SAP

In cooperation with SAP, the ICV offers you a survey with subsequent individual evaluation and optimization suggestions for your financial and controlling processes. The first survey is over. We will inform you as soon as the next opportunity to participate is available.