Articles
Business Controller liiketoiminnan strategisena kumppanina
Business Controller – from Support Function to Strategic Business Partner
Modern finance function is responsible for generating financial information for the company and linking the generated information to support company's financial management and business development. How can the finance function and Controllers enhance their role as strategic business partners for the management?
Business Controller liiketoiminnan strategisena kumppanina
program will give you the tools to develop both your own skills as a Business Controller and your organization's operating practices. At the heart of the training is the role of the sparring partner for the management in steering the business and setting the future direction for the organization.
During the training, we will look into the Business Controller´s job roles from different angles:
- As a finance function developer and effective business partner for the management
- Providing information to the organization, the management team, or the board of directors
- As an operational actor within the finance function team and the rest of the organization
This program is held in Finnish.
The instructors in the 2023 program were perceived as inspiring and knowledgeable, and they provided a number of tools that can be directly translated into practice. Participants gave the program an overall rating of 5.40/6.00.
The participants felt that the program primarily developed their own role as Business Controllers and their skills in strategic thinking and the strategy process.
Guidance and support from Aalto EE staff was rated 5.50/6.0.
Benefits
In this program, you will explore the different roles of the Business Controller as a developer of the finance function and a sparring partner for the management; as a provider of information to the organization, management team, or board; and as an operational actor as part of the financial management team and the rest of the organization. You will also improve your collaboration and communication skills, network, and learn from other participants and experts.
You will sharpen your business skills and become familiar with strategy tools
You will develop your own expertise and your role as a partner to management
You will be given tools to develop your communication and influencing skills
You will be able to produce the right information and interpret it to support decision-making
You will be able to select the most relevant numbers and act as a sparring partner for management and as an internal financial
For?
The program is designed for professionals currently working as a Controller or Business Controller, or who are moving or intending to move into a Controller-type position.
The Business Controller as a strategic business partner is for you if you are interested in bringing fresh thinking and enthusiasm to your business or developing your role and influencing skills.
Contents and Schedule
You can find a detailed description of the contents and schedule on our Finnish website.
The program will examine the strategic and operational role of the Business Controller and the tools for influencing. In addition to lectures and case studies, the topics will be covered through exercises, with a focus on developing the role of the Business Controller. The program will also include a practical assignment to support your own personal development.
Modules
Instructors
Teemu Malmi
Teemu Malmi is a Professor of Accounting and Head of the Department of Accounting at Aalto University School of Business. Also, he has previously been the Chairman of the Board at Aalto University Executive Education Ltd. and Sannäs Manor Ltd.
Professor Malmi specializes in management systems, strategy implementation, and cost and profitability accounting. He teaches frequently in a variety of Executive Programs and has served as an advisor to a large number of companies from various different industries: IT, electronics, energy, finance, food, health care, media, metal and engineering, paper and pulp, pharmaceuticals, rental services, retail, telecom and transportation/logistics and the public sector.
Teemu Malmi holds a Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance from The Helsinki School of Economics, which was merged into Aalto University in 2010.
Jukka Sihvonen
Jukka Sihvonen is an Assistant Professor specializing in Digitalization in Accounting at Aalto University School of Business.
Sihvonen's research expertise lies in the digital transformation of accounting and finance, with a focus on the applications of artificial intelligence, big data, and textual analytics. His research, which spans various business disciplines, has been recognized with numerous citations and awards.
Sihvonen holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Vaasa.
Jari Ylitalo
Thomas Taussi
Thomas Taussi received his PhD from Aalto University School of Business in 2023.
In his dissertation, he studied corporate risk management (including the introduction of risk management systems and the interaction between formal and informal risk work).
In addition to his doctoral studies at the Department of Accounting, he has gained teaching experience from various university courses, from elementary to advanced accounting, and from the guidance of bachelor's thesis seminars. He has also gained experience in teaching at Aalto University Executive Education.
Taussi graduated with a master's degree from Aalto University School of Business in 2016, majoring in accounting (with an emphasis on management accounting) and minoring in finance. He was a semester exchange student at the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, studying finance, strategy, and innovation management. Taussi has work experience as an analyst in the private equity industry (Taaleri, Sparkmind VC).
In addition to management accounting and control systems, Taussi has acquired extensive knowledge of economic and organizational theories. He actively follows the field of distributed master accounting/blockchain technology and its various applications (e.g. cryptocurrencies). He has also participated in the risk management group for the development of the ISO 31,000 risk management framework organized by the Finnish Standards Association.
Tomi Kauppinen
Tomi Kauppinen is the head of Aalto Online Learning at Aalto University. His background is in media technology and computer science. He aspires to bring an entrepreneurial mindset and lean and agile creativity to all his projects and teaching.
Tomi Kauppinen is Head of Aalto Online Learning at Aalto University. He holds a habilitation (2014) in geoinformatics from the University of Muenster in Germany and the title of docent (2014), a Ph.D. (2010) in media technology from Aalto University, and an M.Sc. (2004) in computer science from the University of Helsinki. Kauppinen's passion is to create, study, and teach information visualization, spatial thinking, cognitive systems/artificial intelligence, and blended learning design. Since 2016, he has led the Aalto University-wide strategic development initiative, Aalto Online Learning, which covers activities ranging from blended learning to fully online textbooks and exercises, from video production to online social interaction, from artificial intelligence-based recommendations and assessment to interactive visual simulations, and from augmented/virtual reality to games and gamification. With his background in startups before a calling to academia, he aspires to bring an entrepreneurial mindset and lean and agile creativity to all his projects and teaching.