n the face of increasing international competition and pressure on margins, companies can often only maintain their position by consistently focusing on customer requirements. However, this systematic orientation often leads to project-oriented processing. This development, from standard product business to a customer-specific and complex solution provider, poses major challenges for the processes and systems in finance and accounting and also calls for a sustainable reorientation in the back office.
In addition to this trend, which can be observed in practice, project controlling is a central component of project management that contributes to the success of a project in certain sectors and in the case of special projects that are not handled every day.
Project controlling can be divided into three phases, parallel to project management.
The various proposals for the project idea are analyzed in the design and planning phase, also called the preparation phase. The focal points of the analysis are on quantitative and qualitative aspects as well as the risk and attractiveness of the proposals. One of the proposals is specified with a project structure plan, which includes deadlines, costs, resources and milestones.
The level of detail in the plan constantly increases during the realization phase, thus ensuring good implementation. The implementation of an effective co-calculation is crucial for meaningful controlling during the term of the project. This co-calculation provides continuous information about the operational degree of completion as well as the incurred and forecast costs and compares these with the preliminary calculation. The basis for such an effective project controlling is the prompt and cause-based mapping of the actual costs by using an integrated ERP system that includes accounting, material management, human resources management, project management, etc.
In addition, the controller checks compliance with the set milestones. It is important to recognize the dependencies and effects on the critical path in terms of project execution at an early stage and to identify the causes. This allows validated statements to be made on project execution and lets countermeasures be taken at an early stage.
During the last phase of a project, the target values are compared with all actual values and analyzed. Furthermore, the course of the project is evaluated in order to learn from mistakes for future projects. It is particularly important for recurring projects to collect the findings in an experience database and make them available for the follow-up project.
Our holistic approach lets us analyze the entire commercial project view and value added chain and, based on numerous successful reference projects, work with you to develop a best practice approach. We have in-depth technical know-how, both in project controlling and in current accounting-related topics (IFRS). Our understanding of the interaction between specialist departments and IT enables us to guarantee integrative and implementation-oriented approaches to system implementation. In addition, we will be at your disposal with our change management expertise during the project in order to ensure the sustainable success of the project.
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