Organisational structure influences on the controller roles in Sweden : A cross case study between six organisations in the clothing industry

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Background: Increasing competition has led to a large interest for management control and leadership in Sweden. The controller’s role has changed from just including number crunching tasks to become more market and customer oriented. Therefore the use of controllers today is increasing within Swedish organisations. The role incorporates involvement in management decision making process. Organisational structure affects the work role as well as the location of the employee within an organisation.Purpose: Our objective is to explore how and why the controller roles in Sweden differ from one organisation to another. To make it more interesting a second dimension, organisational structure, is included. We aim to develop guidelines that can provide useful insights to already existing theory. A mix between the inductive and the deductive approach is used.Method: A qualitative cross case study has been performed where controllers from six different organisations present in the Swedish market have been interviewed. The organisations are operating in the clothing industry. Generalisation is not emphasised rather the uniqueness of each case is highlighted. A cross case analysis was performed to reveal differences and similarities between the cases.Conclusion: We have found that a divisionalised structure where the subsidiary is relatively large results in decentralised decision making. The controller belongs to an own function located straight below the CEO and is titled business controller. This controller is recognised to be an involved controller. The involved controller was also found in organisations where some influences of the machine bureaucracy were apparent. If the controller belongs to the finance function it is likely that he/she performs accounting related tasks and the controller role is recognised to be the independent controller. If the controller belongs to the purchase function and the adhocracy is found the split controller role is evident. To prevent confusion we suggest that more controller titles should be added and the title should also communicate what tasks and responsibilities that correspond to the role. If you belong to the finance function an appropriate title would be accounting controller. By ...