The expert work group "Green Controlling for Responsible Business"

 

 

 

Solutions for controller practice

At least since the [German] Federal Government adopted the CSR Directive Implementation Act for the disclosure of non-financial information in the external reporting, one thing is clear: companies have a duty to take visible and understandable responsibility for sustainable management along the entire value chain.

Sustainable corporate management and the management of social and ecological goals are becoming increasingly important for companies. The expert work group Green Controlling for Responsible Business of the ICV applies exactly this: It identifies, discusses and develops goal-oriented, practicable and implementable solutions for a Green Controlling.

Since 2011, the expert work group Green Controlling for Responsible Business has been developing application-oriented solution approaches on the basis of the controlling process model of the International Group of Controlling (IGC) and the ICV. The solution approaches should help companies to integrate social and ecological goals into the controlling processes and instruments, thus ensuring sustainable corporate governance.

An important milestone and the basis for further work in the expert work group is the "Green Controlling Guidelines" published in 2014 (see publications). The guide contains solutions for companies to implement effective Green Controlling. Enriched with numerous practical examples, it shows how companies can extend their management from strategic planning to management reporting by adding social and ecological aspects.

The expert work group has devoted itself in the following years to specific topics such as a sustainability-oriented investment controlling and integrated reporting and worked out concrete solutions for their implementation in corporate practice.

The members of the expert work group represent a cross-section of large and small or medium-sized companies that have already dealt with sustainability issues. In addition, the practice partners are supported by employees from the scientific environment. The intersection of the subjects of controlling and sustainability also results in the work of employees from the departments of Controlling and Environmental / Sustainability / CSR Management in the expert work group.

Elements of a "good" Green Controlling

 

 

10 theses on Green Controlling

The ten theses on or elements of Green Controlling (see figure) describe a controlling that is able to optimally support sustainable corporate management.

The starting point for a Green Controlling is the clear positioning of the company towards sustainability, which materializes mostly in a sustainability strategy or an integrated corporate strategy that addresses economic, social and ecological demands in equal measure.

For the successful introduction of a Green Controlling, the anchoring of the "sustainability concept" in the corporate and management culture is of crucial importance. For the formal management of sustainability goals (that is, controlling) will only be successful if it is consistent with the values and behaviors that live in the company.

A sustainable company also lays the foundation for long-term corporate success with its way of doing business. In a long-term horizon, there are no conflicting goals between the three dimensions of sustainability. However, in the short term there will also be conflicting goals between the three dimensions that require active management. The ten theses of Green Controlling pick up on this problem of potential short-term goal conflicts in order to support sustainable corporate governance today.

A detailed description of the ten elements of "good" Green Controlling can be found in the white paper "10 Theses on Green Controlling - A Vision of Targeted and Practical Controlling to Support Sustainable Corporate Management" [German: "10 Thesen zum Green Controlling - Vision eines zielorientierten und praxistauglichen Controllings zur Unterstützung einer nachhaltigen Unternehmensführung"].

Green Controlling for Responsible Business

Downloading / purchasing publications

You can find current publications of the expert work group, made available to the members of the ICV or those to buy, on the page "Literature" (most of them in German - click here to go to the page).