Mercy Minoo Kavele

Strategic Financial Controlling (SFC) plays a vital role in aligning financial activities with an organization’s long-term objectives. It ensures that there is no disconnect between strategic planning with financial oversight, an ensures that resources are allocated efficiently and performance is tracked against strategic goals. Changes in the global business environment have become more volatile making a shift in the SFC function, shifting it from traditional financial monitoring to a more strategic, forward-looking role (Becker, Mahlendorf, Schäffer, & Thaten, 2022). Current trends in SFC are strongly influenced by digitalization and sustainability imperatives. These trends have made companies to include Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into strategic financial planning, moving beyond pure profit metrics to consider long-term societal impact and corporate responsibility (PwC, 2023). Non-financial factors that drive value like innovation capability, customer experience, and workforce engagement have also been recognised for their strategic relevance and integrated into the financial strategy (Deloitte, 2022). The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics in business evaluation has enabled organizations to access large amount of data to anticipate trends, model scenarios, and support strategic decisions. The use of AI in financial controlling is accelerating the transition from descriptive to predictive and prescriptive analytics. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Business Intelligence (BI) tools now allow for real-time forecasting, dynamic budgeting, and improved risk assessments (Gartner, 2023). Due to these advancements, the controller’s role has been evolving into that of a strategic business partner with focus on long-term value creation (CIMA & AICPA, 2021). Despite these advancements, several challenges such as data quality, ethical AI governance, system integration, and the need develop new professional competencies among the financial profession prevent the full adoption of AI and ESG principles in financial controlling (World Economic Forum, 2023). Leadership in the organization continue to face challenges in prioritization among the ESG objectives with short-term objectives (KPMG, 2022). To address these complexities, frameworks like the Balanced Scorecard and models such as Customer-Based Corporate Valuation (CBCV) are being used to link intangible drivers to measurable financial outcomes (Gupta, Lehmann, & Schulze, 2021). These shifts indicate that SFC is not only adapting to but also enabling the strategic transformation of modern enterprises.
XIII. ÉVFOLYAM 2025. SPECIAL ISSUES 3. 13-17
DOI: 10.24387/CI.SI.2025.3.2