WHAT DOES A COMMERCIAL CONTROLLER DO?
Published: July 30, 2024 - The Commercial Controller supports commercial business strategy and decision support through the analysis of key business and investment opportunities, demonstrating solid skills in complex financial modeling and strategic decision-making. This position drives financial performance and advises senior management on business planning and key drivers while developing reliable operational and financial forecasts to maximize value creation. This role partners with commercial leadership to establish targets and incentives aligned with strategic and operational plans, continually identifying and driving efficiencies across the organization.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Commercial Controller
1. Commercial Controller Duties
- Finance Deployment: Deploy the Global Finance direction, processes, and procedures in the geographical area of responsibility.
- Sales Volume Monitoring: Monitor the sales volume trends by market, model, engine, and trim mix.
- Margin Monitoring: Monitor model margin trends by market.
- Commercial Policy Participation: Join the Commercial Policy approval process.
- Pricing Approval Participation: Join the Pricing approval process on new models.
- Promo Plan and Fleet Deals Decision Making: Join the decision-making process on monthly/quarterly promo plans and fleet deals.
- Expense Monitoring: Monitor Selling and Marketing expenses in the geographical area of responsibility.
- Budget and Forecast Leadership: Lead the budget and forecast process.
- Monthly Closing and Metrics Analysis: Join the monthly closing process and analyze the key business metrics to support the decision-making process.
- Performance Reporting Contribution: Contribute to the forecasting, budget, and monthly performance reporting.
- Price Setting Partnership: Act as a Business Partner on price setting.
- Commercial Advisory: Advise the Commercial teams on customer negotiations.
- Process Improvement and Automation: Drive continuous improvement of financial and commercial tools and processes through further automation and process standardization.
2. Commercial Controller Details
- Sales Analysis: Provide insights to the sales teams on both gross and net sales numbers.
- Margin Simulation: Prepare and review margin simulations for tenders and offers to customers.
- Cost Calculation: Prepare cost push calculations and advise on price increases.
- Pricing Validation: Verify and validate net pricing.
- Discount Monitoring: In charge of monitoring on-invoice discounts, bonus & bypass.
- Bonus Calculation: Steer the bonus & bypass calculation process.
- Transparency & Harmonization: Create transparency and drive harmonization in the discount & bonus structures.
- Provision Calculation: Calculate the monthly bonus & bypass provisions and periodic settlements, and follow up on the potential gap between provisions and actuals.
- Stakeholder Alignment: Ensure alignment between all stakeholders and all systems.
- Compliance: Ensure that HQ’s guidelines regarding discounts are respected within local business units.
- Business Support: Support the Commercial Business Controlling activities.
- Monthly Closing: Participate in the monthly closing process, with a focus on customer bonus & bypass and discounts.
3. Commercial Controller Responsibilities
- P&L Management: Control and central maintenance of the company’s commercial P&L, at least monthly.
- Expenditure Control: Monitor, control, and review commercial expenditure by country, following the company’s processes and procedures monthly.
- Cost-Efficiency Evaluation: Examining and evaluating commercial cost-efficiency.
- Budget Processes Management: Central point of contact for budget-related processes and issues.
- Planning Model Ownership: Owner of commercial planning model and templates.
- P&L and Forecast Ownership: Owner of monthly P&L and annual forecast per country.
- Invoicing and Payments Monitoring: Guarantee and monitor the invoicing, payments, and accrual system for all commercial functions across all markets.
- Financial Modeling: Create, update, and maintain financial models and detailed forecasts of each geography’s future operations, development of rolling forecasts.
- Variance Analysis: Conduct variance analysis for actual, budgeted, and forecasted performance.
- KPI Maintenance: Maintain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
- Strategic Target Alignment: Anchor senior management’s long-term high-level targets (revenue, net income, etc.) to reality.
- Operating and Financial Planning: Develop the operating and financial plan required to achieve the management’s strategic plan and work closely with key stakeholders within the Commercial Division.
- Growth Opportunity Mapping: Consider opportunities for the company to expand or grow by mapping out growth plans or generating three to five-year financial forecasts.
- Team Leadership: Lead a team of two execs.
4. Commercial Controller Job Summary
- Financial Modeling & Scenario Analysis: Support commercial business strategy and decision support through analysis of key business and investment opportunities.
- Strategic Decision-Making: Develop options and enable appropriate decision-making based on strategic business needs.
- Financial Performance Management: Drive financial performance and business activity, deliver and communicate performance and business planning submissions, and advise senior management on key drivers.
- Operational & Financial Forecasting: Partner in developing reliable operational and financial forecasts, ensuring resources are allocated to maximize value creation for the business.
- Strategic Advisory: Partner in the review & development of short & long-term strategy and maintain accountability to understand all developments that may affect the organization’s operations and policies, advising stakeholders of all relevant financial matters to achieve business requirements and objectives.
- Negotiation & Communication: Negotiate and communicate effectively across teams and external parties to achieve a positive outcome, encouraging others to demonstrate flexibility when considering options and assessing business impact.
- Business Decision Support: Effectively assess the relevant input required to support the commercial teams in evaluating business decisions.
- Forecast Accuracy & Business Understanding: Maintain joint accountability with the business for the accuracy of forecasts, using a good understanding of the business model and financial drivers, to challenge and influence the key cost drivers.
- Efficiency Identification: Continually work with the business to identify and drive through opportunities for efficiencies.
- Target Setting & Incentive Alignment: Partner with the commercial leadership to establish stretch but attainable targets and incentives, aligned to strategy and operational plans.
- Risk Management & Reporting: Highlight sensitivities and risks in delivering timely, accurate and granular reporting, linking business drivers to actual spend and forecast.
5. Commercial Controller Accountabilities
- Cost Analysis: Collect and analyze costs of allocated entities (volumes, prices, costs, etc.)
- Financial Reporting: Report and analyze monthly results, actual vs. BDG/PY variances and communicate them to management
- Variance Analysis: Track action plans and ensure accurate and realistic variance analysis
- Overhead Analysis: Analyze overheads by cost centers, Actual vs. BDG/PY
- Profitability Analysis: Analyze profitability (by volume, price, cost, etc.)
- Data Analysis: Perform timely and accurate recurrent or ad-hoc requested analyses and reports, upon needs
- Cross-Departmental Coordination: Work closely with other departments (industrial, logistics, HR, etc.) to collect, provide and ensure accurate data
- Performance Analysis: Explain the elements that define the commercial performance against forecast, budget, and previous year
- Budget Planning: Participate in the budget construction and various estimates in line with the Group's requirements
- Financial Management: Manage and report on the Commercial Balance Sheet
- Accounts Management: Maintain customers' accruals and work alongside Accounts Receivables to manage the customers' ledger