Ökad förståelse för controllerollen : Dess styrning, dubbelsidighet och funktion inomorganisationsstrukturen

Sammanfattning: The controller role is a principal part of all bigger organizations and through the years ithas been discussed whether the controllers main responsibility is towards the highermanagement or if its priorities should be towards the local management. The differentinterests can in its turn be incompatible which leads to the view that the controller canbe seen as having problematic dual responsibilities. As a result the role has been definedin many different ways in regards to its involvement in management control as well asits work content. A problematic discussion regarding the dual responsibilities arisewhen a controller is to balance commitments towards both the higher management aswell as its own division, and also the handling of these responsibilities within thecompany. The aim of the study is to shed a light on, and increase the understanding, of thecontroller role in a Swedish, multinational industrial company regarding itsresponsibilities and work content. A contributing aim of the study is to create anunderstanding of the interplay between the controller, its organizational counterpartsand the management of these interactions. The study is conducted with a qualitative method due to an interest towards a greaterunderstanding of the controller role. To better comprehend the controllers’ ownunderstandings of the role, a case study with six semi-structured interviews have beenconducted with active controllers. The results of the study indicate that the role of the controller isn’t affected by the issuesregarding its dual responsibilities as the discourse suggest. A close cooperation with thedivision as well as a hierarchical distance from the higher management results in thecontroller having a supporting role rather than a controlling one. Finally the study pointsto a great deal of significance regarding the controller role and its placement within theorganizational structure of the company.