Controlling Readiness for 2026 – Key Areas of Assessment

For many organizations, 2026 will serve as a critical test of whether the changes, improvements, and decisions implemented in 2025 have genuinely strengthened controlling and prepared it to operate effectively under conditions of heightened uncertainty. This is not about a revolution, nor about replacing tools, methods, or procedures for the sake of change itself. The key issue will be whether controlling, in its current form, is capable of providing effective decision support to the management board in the face of newly emerging challenges.

The challenges of 2026 do not stem from a single disruptive event, but rather from the cumulative impact of several trends: increasing environmental volatility (cost pressure, regulatory changes, geopolitical instability), the growing importance of forecasting and scenario-based thinking, the expanding use of non-financial data, and the gradual integration of analytical technologies and AI into the day-to-day work of controlling

For the controlling function, this implies not so much the need to “keep pace with change,” but rather the ability to calmly and consistently translate these developments into stronger, more effective decision support for management.

How controlling will function within an organization in 2026 will largely depend on the direction chosen in earlier years. For some companies, it will remain a stable and proven element of the management system. In others, it will continue to operate in a reactive manner, responding retrospectively and with delay to market changes. The most mature organizations will use this moment as a transition point toward controlling as a true “co-pilot” for management—supporting decisions in a predictive and scenario-driven way.

Forecasting – the moment of truth for forecast quality

For many companies, 2026 will be the first period in which their approach to forecasting is truly tested in everyday operations. Operational reality will verify whether more frequent forecast updates, broader use of operational data, and work based on business drivers genuinely support managerial decision-making.

Controlling that is prepared for this test will be able to update forecasts in line with the pace of business operations and clearly demonstrate the potential consequences of market changes. The forecast will no longer function merely as an adjustment to the plan, but will evolve into a tool for actively managing the future.

In many organizations, forecasting is still performed using spreadsheets. With the appropriate scale and process discipline, this can be a sufficient solution. Challenges arise only when the growing number of versions, manual adjustments, and reconciliation efforts begins to limit the time available for analysis and interpretation.

Budgeting – a test of management system flexibility

In many companies, the coming year will also reveal whether the budget supports management or instead constrains it. Changes introduced in 2025—such as supplementing the budget with a rolling budget or placing greater emphasis on forward-looking analysis—will show whether the management dialogue has genuinely shifted from assessing past performance to consciously shaping future outcomes.

While the budget remains an important element of financial stability, it will increasingly serve as a reference point rather than the primary mechanism for steering the business.

Data – validating the foundations of controlling

2026 will quickly demonstrate whether earlier efforts to organize and standardize data have delivered the expected results. Consistency between financial and operational data is a necessary condition for effective forecasting and meaningful scenario analysis.

Where data are reliable, credible, and available in a single source, controlling can focus on interpretation and the formulation of actionable recommendations. Where this is not the case, a significant share of the team’s effort will continue to be absorbed by reconciling numbers rather than by providing real support for business decisions.

Tools – adequacy instead of a technological race

The year 2026 will not test whether an organization has access to the most advanced tools, but whether the solutions in use are appropriate to the organization’s scale and complexity.

For many companies, spreadsheets will remain a natural component of the controlling environment. What will become critical, however, is whether they enable efficient recalculation of scenarios and rapid responses to change without placing an excessive operational burden on the controlling team.

The controlling team – a test of business competencies

Technology and processes are important, but the competencies of the controlling team remain indispensable. Companies that invested in developing controllers’ business and analytical skills in 2025 will be able to translate data into concrete, decision-relevant recommendations more quickly. Where the role of controlling is limited to data preparation, the team’s potential will remain underutilized—regardless of the tools employed. A similar gap will emerge when implemented technologies are not supported by company-wide, consistent procedures that ensure processes are properly and systematically reflected in systems.

Management decisions and AI – responsibility at the center

Over the past year, many organizations have launched pilot initiatives based on AI and advanced analytics. The coming year will show the extent to which these technologies have been embedded into business processes in a responsible and well-informed manner.

Mature controlling positions AI as support for human decision-making rather than as a substitute for managerial accountability. A clear understanding of model assumptions, combined with explicit assignment of responsibility for decisions taken, will be essential.

Summary

For many companies, 2026 will be a period of assessing whether the changes introduced in controlling in 2025 have translated into a tangible increase in its usefulness for management.

This assessment will not be based solely on the implementation of specific tools, but on everyday practice: the ability to update forecasts quickly, work effectively with scenarios, and consistently integrate financial and operational data within the decision-making process.

Competitive advantage will be built by controlling that is aligned with the organization’s real needs—capable of presenting the potential consequences of decisions in a credible and comprehensible manner, whether financial, operational, or even strategic.

For companies that structured their controlling function and implemented new solutions in 2025, the year now underway does not so much close a particular phase as it provides, for the first time, an opportunity to assess the maturity of controlling as a management-support function aligned with the organization’s character, scale, and pace of development.