As the person responsible for preparing an organisation’s financial reports, which include balance sheets and income statements, the role of a finance controller is anything but ordinary.
As they assist in compliance audits and the monitoring of internal controls to ensure that everyone within the company does their job correctly, they are also expected to thrive and flourish amid the challenges along the way for the benefit of the organisation.
For this year’s FutureCFO Awards, we discussed matters of interest and importance with three outstanding financial controllers in their respective industries, asking them what is of significance for and in the role.
A career
“Expectation for a controller continually evolves,” according to Giselle Arellano-Geronimo, vice president – head of finance, accounting & procurement (controller) at Shearwater Health, and the winner of the 2024 FutureCFO Controller of the Year Award.
Giselle A Geronimo
“This is the career to pursue if someone is up for turning challenges into opportunities and using changes for levelling up skills.”
Giselle Arellano-Geronimo
A controller, for Geronimo, also has the privilege to make a story out of the numbers and convert the results of the financials into actionable business decisions and strategies that help shape the business.
“A controller is a pivotal role in the organisation which allows one to showcase both technical and soft skills,” Geronimo says.
As for the interesting parts of the role, Celina Leonardo, senior director of corporate finance & strategic investment at Super Magnificent Coffee Company Pte. Ltd. (The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf), says the appeal of the financial controller position lies in blending analytical depth with visionary leadership, overseeing financial strategies across sectors.
“Balancing governance and growth is the challenge, requiring performance optimisation and innovation,” says Leonardo. “As the business's nerve centre, the controller connects with external stakeholders, including the parent company, banks, and government bodies, having exposure to operations, marketing, consumer insights, and supply chain.”
She believes the intrigue of the role stems from versatility, enabling individuals to define and perform the role in various ways based on situational demands.
Meanwhile, Francisco Ramon Jr., group financial controller at Medtecs International Corp. Ltd. believes controllership is always an evolving job that involves a lot of a good foundation of technical accounting and finance acumen and a strategic mindset that is always ready to provide or recommend solutions on an impulse.
“It is a think-out-of-a-box role, especially when you get to deal with a multitude of problems along the different facets of the company,” Ramon says, “it requires in-depth knowledge of not only accounting and finance but also on operational management, corporate governance, and a lot more.”
He also points out that another aspect of a controller’s role is the variety in terms of responsibility, saying that it is never routine when it comes to controllership as one needs to adapt to different situations each new day.
“It’s also the risk management part of the role that keeps the role exciting, crucial, and a continuous growth area,” Ramon adds.
Regulatory hurdles
Geronimo concedes that the most challenging part of the controller role in 2023 was the changing regulatory guidelines that were impacting financials.
“Unlike IFRS standards that are well-structured and finance practices that allow flexibility based on internal business needs, changing regulatory guidelines has caused ambiguity and anxiety due to the very fluid and subjective interpretations that can lead to material dollar spend for the company.”
She says that this challenge has highlighted the need for more external collaborations to craft a way forward with minimum, or no impact to the companies.
This sentiment is echoed by Leonardo, who thinks that adapting to global changes, regulatory shifts, and evolving consumer behaviours requires agile leadership in 2023.
Celina Leonardo
“A pivotal challenge involved steering teams through uncertainty with a growth-focused and fiscally responsible approach, supported by additional funding sources for optionality.”
Celina Leonardo
Leonardo says navigating market-specific ambiguity and volatility demanded addressing challenges with a "what's the worst that can happen" mindset while communicating possibilities to stakeholders.
According to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf senior director, this required aligning resource allocation principles and ensuring enterprise optionality despite challenges, emphasising a proactive growth-oriented strategy.
Digitalisation in 2023
For Ramon, digitalisation and automation have been the biggest challenges in 2023, as more companies adopted a more complex and integrated ERP system.
“It’s always a challenge when you start to implement a new technology,” Ramon concedes. “It’s in this part where there is a large resistance to change from the users of the system and you need to learn, train and adapt to the new system.”
He believes that it is never hiccup-free when it comes to adoption and implementation, as there will be more misses than hits as one tries to master and customise the system to the needs of your organisation.
Challenges in time management
Ramon also points out how time management has been crucial in 2023, as one balances their regular workload and regular deliverables with the time invested in learning new systems.
Francisco Ramon Jr
“The early part of the learning curve is the toughest with the training, implementation pains, the parallel runs and getting more confident with the system to meet regulatory compliance and also third party needs.”
Francisco Ramon Jr
While it is undoubtedly not an easy process, Ramon believes that the benefits outweigh the challenges of digitalisation and automation in eventually speeding up the key processes, establishing accountability, and creating value-added reports.
Succeeding amid challenges
“Success as a controller relies on an entrepreneurial mindset, analytical rigour, and adept leadership,” says Leonardo. “Proficiency in representing various business functions and offering a balanced perspective on risks and opportunities is crucial for smooth planning amid volatile markets.”
She adds that impeccable financial analysis is key as effective communication and relationship-building skills foster an innovative and inclusive culture. Accurate problem definition is emphasised, highlighting the controller's role as the choice architect in resolving business issues.
Meanwhile, Geronimo thinks that a successful controller should be aware, updated, flexible, creative, and skilful with high integrity.
“Due to the multiple demands and internal/external regulatory, requirements, standards to juggle, being well-informed is important and creating that collaborative structure for benchmarking, along with skilful fashion in deciding or recommending strategies to the business leaders.”
Ramon notes that controllers should have a visionary mindset especially when it comes to problem-solving situations to see the impact of each decision-making point and at the same time, be able to synthesise information for management.
“A controller should be innovative, creative and strategic when it comes to dealing with day-to-day situations at the office,” Ramon says.
He adds that controllers should have a strong finance acumen, analytical skills and a strong understanding of the link of the actual operation to the financial statements. “It’s also important being able to deal with all levels of people within an organization and have excellent communication skills and command to discuss key management actions and policies.”
More importantly, Ramon explains that controllers should be made of “high moral fibre” capable of maintaining the trust of both internal and external stakeholders. With the advent of technology, controllers should also be tech-savvy, adaptable to changes and also be leaders in times of crisis and change.
What’s in store for 2024
Ramon believes that automation and digitalisation will be a recurring challenge in 2024 as the world shifts toward more powerful digital solutions and automates more functions.
“Though I think ESG will be an emerging challenge in 2024 and beyond. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) have started issuing standards for Global Sustainability Disclosures to create a better and more uniform method of reporting and measuring sustainability and heighten awareness from more stakeholders (investors, customers, suppliers, etc.) on the importance of ESG activities of companies.”
Meanwhile, Geronimo sees continuing regulatory changes, the pressures of AI, business growth, and cost creativity as primary challenges for the year.
“As the business landscape evolves, the Controller should evolve quicker, plan better, and execute more seamlessly, with full consideration on all business priorities and financial implications,” she explains. “Balancing and Prioritisation will be critical this year, while Controllers act quickly, and diligently in fulfilling our roles.”
Leonardo says navigating a complex global financial landscape, understanding ESG factors, and balancing business performance with sustainability will be paramount in 2024.
“It is critical for the controller to keep their head up for emerging trends that would enable a more efficient workflow for themselves and their teams (e.g., automation tools enabled by AI) - that way, more time can be redirected toward breakthrough initiatives rather than base initiatives. These breakthrough initiatives aim at solving novel problems through creative solutions,” she says.
* Editor’s note: Celina Leonardo and Francisco Ramon Jr were finalists at the 3rd annual FutureCFO Excellence Awards 2024 in the category of Controller of the Year Award. Giselle A. Geronimo received the award in the same category during the awards night ceremony at the Fullerton Hotel on 22 February 2024.
* Editor's note: FutureCFO is inviting submissions to the annual FutureCFO 2025 Excellence Awards. Click here for more information.
Arra Czarina Igno is an experienced News Writer with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry.
She is a media and communication professional with a Bachelor’s Degree focused in Broadcast Communication from Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
