Abstract:

This paper illustrates how the quality and value contribution of management reporting activities at a global manufacturing company can be analyzed, benchmarked and improved. The proposed improvement process will be backed up with a case study and a survey made with 20 controllers and finance managers of companies across Eastern Europe. The results of this survey were benchmarked with a peer group of companies based on a reference survey made by Deloitte Consulting across Europe. Based on the illustrated benchmarking process three main improvement areas are further elaborated and improvement steps are outlined. The paper closes with an outlook how further optimization can be reached in a changed company set up using controlling shared service centers. The paper is expected to have high relevance for multinational companies seeking for improvements in their management reporting activities.