Five decades of passion for controlling

This interview was conducted at Easter 2025. His daughter Dorothee Deyhle recorded his answers to the previously submitted questions for us. The interview provides personal insights – and is a gift to the association to mark its 50th anniversary. Many thanks for this and especially to Dorothee Deyhle for taking the time to do it! 🙂

Dr. Deyhle, what fascinated you about controlling at the time, so that you dedicated your professional life to this topic?

The needs of the economy in Germany. I was working internationally and felt that Germany was in need of help in the area of corporate management and controlling.

Was there a particular moment or encounter that was decisive for your enthusiasm for controlling?

Adolf Matz Professor in Philadelphia and Daniel Nimer, a management consultant with whom I cooperated.

Would you call controlling controlling again?

Yes, of course.

You were in the USA in 1963 and were interviewed by the Los Angeles Times. What experiences from that time shaped your view of controlling?

I found what I was thinking in terms of business management – in other words, the way things should be done here. in the USA, controlling was practiced and was part of everyday business life. Above all, there were no reservations about the function and the term controlling.

Were there any methods or insights from the USA that particularly impressed you and later brought them to Germany?

I felt confirmed in what I was doing and in my plans in Controlling.

At the time, you were impressed by the efficiency of American companies, particularly in the automation of administrative processes and the rapid processing of transactions (such as the cashing of checks). Did this influence your thinking about operational processes?

Yes, that’s right. I was impressed by the developments.

In the interview, you emphasized the importance of company-wide planning and budgeting, which was apparently still uncommon in Germany at the time. Was that an impetus for you to establish these methods in German practice?

I felt vindicated in what I was doing. Finally, my boss at the time, Dr. Günther Höckel, Managing Director of the Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce, sent me to the USA to experience the developments first-hand and compare them with our ideas.

You remarked at the time: “German business people work hard, but they don’t work smart.” What did you mean back then?

They worked hard, but were not focused enough on their contribution margins.

How do you remember controlling in Germany in the 1970s?

Controlling in the seventies was rather poor, so I made it my mission to change that.

With your publications at the end of the 1960s, your seminar activities and the founding of the Controller Academy, you obviously identified a need that you were able to serve or meet with your approach. What was it at that time?

I realized that controlling is a successful model in practice and that employees in bookkeeping, accounting and controlling need a new understanding of their role.

You founded the Controller Association with others in 1975. Reading interviews on the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, one might get the impression that you were the organizer rather than the driving force behind its foundation. 😉 Were the wishes of “your” alumni alone the reason for its foundation? What motivated your strong commitment to the association in the first 20 years?

I was pleased that I got the ball rolling. This then developed into a very special dynamic that brought many people together.

In your opinion, what were the most pressing issues facing controllers in the 1970s?

The “controller” practically didn’t exist back then. My participants, at the C ontroller Academyand the first Controller Association members were usually employees in accounting and bookkeeping. They were particularly concerned with how to get the appropriate training to do the job better. The subject of controlling was barely present at universities.

What was a controller’s area of responsibility and everyday life like back then, and how does it differ from today?

They have now understood what they are there for and what their job in the company is, namely to advise management on all controlling issues and to carry out controlling together with management.

Today, the ICV’s working groups deal with current challenges in controlling, such as digitalization, artificial intelligence and sustainability. What were the topics that the working groups of the Controller Association dealt with in the 1970s?

These were the same classic controlling topics that still occupy many controllers today. The only difference was that the understanding of controlling had to grow gradually back then – among controllers, but also among managers.

When you look at controlling today – which developments “surprise” you the most?

That it is as valid today as it was then. And that is confirmation for me that the work of controllers is still just as important, because management would often act differently without their advice.

Are there aspects of modern controlling that you would never have thought could play a role back then?

The importance of data processing was not so present in the seventies and eighties. Controlling was mostly done manually back then.

You have seen many trends come and go. How do you assess current topics such as AI, digitalization or sustainability – are they a revolution or an evolution in controlling?

A revolution. No one can say for sure today what jobs will look like in the future.

In your opinion, is there anything that controllers from back then were particularly good at and that could help today’s controllers to master these current challenges?

(Laughs) Certainly the ability to calculate and, of course, an understanding of why and how something is calculated.

How long did it take to organize and develop a Congress of Controllers in the 1970s and how many people were involved in the core team?

Certainly a similar length of time as today – only with less technical effort. In addition to my wife and myself, the core team included Monika Nebl, Conrad Günther and the employees of the Controller Academy as well as the respective association board members.

In your opinion, what is the core of controlling that should never be lost sight of, no matter how much technologies or methods change?

If you don’t pay attention to controlling, you will notice it when you go bankrupt!

Somewhere you are quoted as saying that your management summary about yourself is “the undauntedness to always approach the topic of controlling on a zero-based basis”. Would you like to explain this statement in more detail?

Undauntedly preaching that controllers must act as business partners, not with tunnel vision on their figures, but “out there” with their internal customers in the company.

In your opinion, how has the Controller Association influenced controlling in the DACH region? Where do you see its greatest impact?

The great impact is due to the fact that the sense of controlling in practice has been spread in the community. Thanks to so many contributors, controlling has gained attention.

Where do you see the ICV in 50 years’ time? 😉

Am I Jesus, I can’t answer that.

The first Congress of Controllers in 1976 is particularly noteworthy for me in two respects: Aloys Gälweiler is one of the speakers and Prof. Dr. Peter Horvath is a participant How did the contacts come about?

Iknew both of them personally and through our work together.

At the end of the 1960s, controllers in Germany were often only found at subsidiaries of American corporations:

• The end of the post-war boom and the first oil crisis in 1973 led to increasing cost pressure and a need for future-oriented analyses.
• The increasing importance of greater market proximity and the increased complexity of companies leading to divisionalization resulted in the formation of profit centers. These organizational forms in turn required adjustments in information supply and corporate management.
• The development of information technology and the increasing spread of cost accounting concepts developed in the 1950s and 1960s (especially marginal costing) enabled the increased demands for transparency and well-founded business decisions.
• The pressure to utilize resources more efficiently and effectively has increased the importance of controlling in companies.

In 1963, Dr. Albrecht Deyhle, then Deputy Director of the German Institute for Business Administration (Deutsches Institut für Betriebswirtschaft e.V.), embarks on a month-long tour of the USA to gather ideas on how German business people can introduce more automation and make their company processes more efficient. He also realizes that German companies rarely use the comprehensive planning and budgeting concepts that are common in the USA.

“In Germany, every department head normally has their own plan and their own budget,” said Deyhle in an interview with the Los Angeles Times at the time. The topic of controlling obviously did not let go of him, because in addition to his professional activities, his book “Gewinn-Management” (Profit Management) was published in 1967, in which many controlling ideas were already anticipated, followed by his standard work “Controller-Praxis” in 1971. 1971 saw the first seminar of the Controller Akademie, the first training institute for controllers in Germany. And when the graduates of the first seminar week continued in the fall of 1974 and wanted to meet again, the idea of founding an association for controllers was born.

On February 15, 1975, five controlling pioneers (Dr. Alfred Blazek, Heinz Dietz, Dr. Albrecht Deyhle, Erwin Helffenstein and Kurt Jehle as well as Walther Germeroth and Erwin Küchle represented by power of attorney) found the Controller Verein e.V. in the notary’s office of Dr. Friedrich Kastenbauer in Augsburg.

While still in the notary’s office, Heinz Dietz is elected 1st Chairman, Erwin Helffenstein 2nd Chairman and Dr. Albrecht Deyhle Managing Director. Five months later, there are already 24 members and five work groups. The organization of the Association of Controllers is taken over by the Controller Akademie office (Ms. Nebl). The annual “Congress of Controllers” is already planned during the founding phase and takes place for the first time in 1976. The first newsletter – later called “Controller Magazin” – is also published in 1975 and is included in the membership fee (initially DM 60) from the outset. The intensive work in work groups (such as WG Süd, WG Mitte, WG Nord, WG West, WG Schweiz and WG Wien), in which controllers come together for professional exchange and learning, is characteristic of the young association. Parallel to the professional discussions, fundamental decisions are made, for example on the question of a possible “official” professional orientation (which is, however, rejected in order to remain independent).

Despite the positive development momentum, the ICV stuck to a strategy of “slowed growth” in the 1970s, with the regular Congress and work groups forming the main pillars of the Association’s work.

By 1979, the number of members had risen to 195. The structure of the Association with an honorary Board, a (part-time) full-time Managing Director, an office combined with the Controller Akademie and the worrk groups is not changed. Only the Management Board is expanded by two people (Herbert Heller from Vienna and Hansruedi Kehl from Zurich) due to the workload, who thus also represent the members from Austria and Switzerland.

In the 1980s, the ICV grows strongly and consolidates its role in the German-speaking controlling environment. There is no final discussion within the Association as to whether the Association should position itself as a “professional Association” and take an official position on professional controlling issues.

The focus of the content-related work is on intensive discussions about the Association’s self-image and professional development in controlling. A clear separation between the Association of Controllers and the Controller Akademie is established. Consequently, Dr. Albrecht Deyhle hands over the management of the Association to Dr. Jürgen Zeplin, who is based in Berlin, in 1984. The move of the office to Berlin, which was very costly at the time, was aimed at making the work of the Association more professional and efficient. It was time-consuming because all documents had to be transported by car across the then existing inner-German border. There were only a few authorized transit routes through the GDR, all of which were strictly monitored. Deviating from the route or staying in the GDR (except at the permitted rest areas) is not permitted. The administration of the Association of Controllers is modernized with the move. In 1985, the membership administration is converted from a card index box to a computerized system, with bookkeeping soon to follow.

The continued growth of the Association leads to a discussion at the 1987 general meeting “….. whether the previous “militia system” should be reformed in the face of growing competition from universities and whether a full-time managing Director should be appointed…..” As a result, the new Managing Director Conrad Günther took up his full-time position in 1989 and took over the further organizational direction. At the same time, the Managing Director automatically became a member of the Management Board, which was thus expanded to 5 people.

Towards the end of the decade, Dr. Deyhle announced his resignation as First Chairman, resulting in a new Management Board. The number of members grew to around 1,000.

The 1990s marked a decisive phase of upheaval, strong growth and professionalization for the ICV. During this time, the association changed as an alumni association for graduates of the Controller Academy and began to develop its own content and formats. The desire for financial independence from the Congress led to the ICV developing its own products such as publications and other event formats.

The “Principles of Proper Controlling” are developed and set out in a so-calledstatement was published. Two more followed in 1991 with the “Controller Mission Statement” and “Rules for Profit Centers”, followed by the “Controlling and Information Management” statement in 1995.

In 1996, the first regional conference This was primarily intended for controllers from SMEs, for whom the congress was too expensive due to travel costs. 1996 was also the year of the CV’s first website, which broke new ground in terms of external presentation.

The work of the Controller Association focused specifically on the needs and framework conditions in the new federal states and abroad. To this end, so-called orientation days were held for nine years from 1993, especially for controllers from the new federal states. The “Orientation Day” was developed as a compact, one-day event to convey basic controlling topics with a strong practical focus.

In particular, German reunification and the associated expansion of the circle of members led to a strong growth in membership. In 1990, citizens of the GDR attended the members’ meeting for the only time, as reunification took place in October of the same year.

There are personnel changes on the Executive Board, as Dr. Albrecht Deyhle and other founding members gradually retire from their positions. Manfred Remmel, the new 1st Chairman and responsible for controlling at Daimler AG, later a member of the Board of Management there, together with Ragnar Nilsson (CIO at Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG), brought new perspectives for the further development of controlling and strengthened the role of the association in the professional world with his contacts. The change was particularly visible at the Congress of Controllers: it developed into a top-class event with keynote speakers and a professionally curated program – away from internal experience reports and towards future-oriented impulses for controlling. Topics such as strategic controlling, cost management in transformation processes and controlling software solutions came to the fore.

A lot has also changed in terms of organization:
A further professionalization of the association’s structures was expressed in the person of Conrad Günther as the first full-time managing director employed by the association. A comprehensive, printed annual report was produced for the first time.

At the same time, the working groups grew in number and ambition. Loose meetings became structured specialist groups with an agenda, output and publications – an important driver for the internal transfer of knowledge and the active involvement of members.

The ICV also opened up geographically. The German-speaking region was expanded step by step – initially with additional partners in Switzerland, later in Italy, Poland and other countries. This was one of the reasons why, on the initiative of the ICV, the International Group of Controlling (IGC)was founded. Since then, it has been spreading the German-language controlling philosophy coined by Albrecht Deyhle internationally in practice and science.

In 1997, Dr.Herwig Friedag and a team of volunteers took over the permanent public relations work for the association. What was initially done on the initiative of committed members was gradually professionalized – a first step towards systematic press work and external presentation.

Overall, the decade was characterized by profound change. The “Club of Controllers” developed into a professional, open network for specialists and managers in controlling. The ICV stood on its own two feet – organizationally, in terms of content and internationally – and thus laid the foundation for its current success. The number of members grew to around 3,200.

The Controller Association experiences with the new board members Dr. Wolfgang Berger-Vogel (Chairman), Ragnar Nilsson(Deputy Chairman of the Board) and Siegfried Gänsslen (Chairman of the Board from 2007), the Controller Association is experiencing a phase of internationalization and thematic diversification. The range of specialist publications and online resources is continuously expanded in order to provide controllers with sound information and examples of best practice. In 2001, the Controller Association became the International Controller Association in the course of internationalization. Awards such as the Controller Award brought innovative projects to the fore and promoted the visibility of the association. An ideas workshop headed by former board member Manfred Blachfellner was established in 2001 as a central think tank to provide impetus for the adaptation and application of new controlling ideas and to implement them in statements. Strategy development for the ICV, the establishment and maintenance of contacts with the scientific community and the topics of IAS/IFRS accounting, value-oriented corporate management, changes in the world of work/knowledge accounting, European management/controlling. In 2004, a study on the management of intangible assets was carried out with the support of 12 organizations. The preliminary results show a high demand for information on the “value” of intangible assets and their contribution to corporate value.

A new organizational structure was adopted and implemented in order to make the work of the association’s committees even more efficient in view of the 3,500 members. The approximately 40 working groups are now represented by five regional delegates and one industry delegate for the industry working group in a so-called “steering committee”. The Steering Committee now comprises a total of 16 people, advising the Executive Board on strategic issues and supporting it in its day-to-day business.

In 2004, the Board of Trustees, which is provided for in the Articles of Association and advises the Board of Trustees was established for the first time. In 2007, the ideas workshop is taken over by Prof. Dr. Peter Horvath, as a result of which new topics such as intangible assets, IAS/IFRS and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requirements, green controlling, modern budgeting and communication controlling gain in importance, leading to further publications and new specialist groups. At the same time, the ICV is promoting cooperation with various institutions, such as the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (“Wissensbilanz – Made in Germany”), which is pursuing the targeted dissemination of intellectual capital statements among decision-makers in SMEs, the networking of stakeholders and the communication of intellectual capital statement methodology.

In spring 2005, the boards of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Qualität e.V. (DGQ) and the ICV also decide to cooperate in order to increase the efficiency of cooperation between controlling and quality management for the benefit of companies and organizations. As a result, the Expert Work Group Controlling and Quality is founded.

With the adoption of IFRS into EU law (2003) and its implementation in Germany, the ICV was suddenly in demand as a representative of the controlling community. The “management view” of IFRS 2 led to discussions as to whether controllers would become superfluous and accountants would take over management reporting. Furthermore, it was not clear whether there would be a harmonization of internal and external accounting and whether IFRS standards would dominate management accounting. During this time, the ICV was involved in the discussions in the German Accounting Standards Committee through board member Siegfried Gänsslen. The ICV commented intensively on the exposure drafts and pointed out potential problems. The work resulted in a statement by the IGC on the link between IFRS and management accounting (Prof. Weissenberger, Dr. Berger-Vogel) and a statement by the IFRS & Management Accounting expert group in which, for the first time, a meaningful bridge between the income statement in accordance with IFRS and the internal management income statement was presented.

With the particular commitment of Dr. Herwig Friedag and Dr. Walter Schmidt, internationalization has now been systematically promoted through the establishment of new working groups in Poland (Warsaw and Szczecin) and others (Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia), which have further expanded the ICV’s Europe-wide network.

At the same time, the ICV intensified its cooperation withiwith universities, institutions and associationsin order to scientifically substantiate controlling topics and make them usable in practice. The further development of methods and standards remained a central concern, which was reflected in statements such as “Project Controlling” and the IFRS statement. The IFRS working group regularly published statements on new accounting standards (e.g. at the DRSC or IASB) and thus gained visibility in the professional world.

With the launch of the controlling wiki, an expansion of member communication and the professionalization of processes and working groups, the ICV continues to position itself as a leading authority in controlling. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 leads to a reassessment of established principles of corporate management. In an interview with the Financial Times in 2009, Jack Welch described shareholder value as “…the stupidest idea in the world…”, which led to an impulse paper entitled “The 10 core elements of sustainable controlling”. The second Chairman of the ICV at the time, Prof. Dr. Heimo Losbichler (Steyr University of Applied Sciences), thus further developed and updated the guiding principle of the ICV controlling philosophy of “economically sustainable success”, which had been in place since the 1970s.

The decade from 2010 to 2019 was characterized by continuous growth and further internationalization for the ICV. At the beginning of the 2010s, the association intensified its collaboration with universities and cooperation partners such as Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, providing new impetus for controllers through studies and publications (including the regularly published “Operations Efficiency Radar”). At the same time, the ICV laid the foundation for professionalization in many areas: New specialist groups emerged, such as IFRS, Green Controlling or Working Capital Management, which developed white papers and guidelines relevant to practice. The ICV was led for almost the entire decade by Siegfried Gänßlen (Chairman of the Board) and Prof. Dr. Heimo Losbichler (Deputy Chairman).

The trend towards sustainable and “green” controlling was already apparent in 2010 and 2011. Consequently, the ICV established the Green Controlling expert group in 2011, which has been developing and publishing sustainability controlling methods ever since. Under the influence of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, liquidity management became an important topic, which the Working Capital Management expert group saw as a cross-sectional function of companies and, after several years of work, resulted in a pioneering guide in six languages in 2013.

A central motive of the decade was the expansion of international contacts. With new working groups and license agreements in countries such as Spain, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, England and China, the ICV is expanding its basis for European and global exchange on controlling topics. In 2019, the ICV had more than 6,000 members.

From 2014 to 2016, the topic of digitalization came to the fore. This was expressed in publications, events and specialist groups on the topics of “digital transformation”, “start-up controlling” and “business analytics” and offered controllers practical guidance. The specialist knowledge is also increasingly being communicated online in webinars, podcasts, bar camps and a controlling wiki.

Throughout the decade, the ICV expands its range of specialist events in German-speaking countries and beyond. In addition to the annual Controller Congress in Munich and the Controlling Insights Steyr in Austria, regional conferences in Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Croatia and other countries have become important platforms for exchange. The association regularly recognizes outstanding controlling projects – including the Controller Award, the Controlling Young Talent Award and the Green Controlling Award.

At the same time, publications such as the Dream Car reports from the Ideenwerkstatt (including on green controlling, big data, Industry 4.0 and digital business models) provide new impetus and give the ICV a reputation for anticipating developments in controlling and suitable methods.

Three events lead to a groundbreaking publication by the ICV in 2015:

• The financial and European debt crisis (2007-2011) is changing the way we look at the sustainable success of companies.
• Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer published the concept of “Creating Shared Value” in the Harvard Business Review in 2006.
• The Integrated Reporting Framework will be published in 2010.

This triggered a two-year discussion among various ICV experts about the contribution that controlling makes to the value creation of organizations. The result is an integrated approach of “modern value orientation”.

Executive advisors will be introduced in 2015 to take over operational tasks from the Management Board in order to relieve the Management Board.

Overall, the 2010s were a decade of growth, internationalization and renewal for the ICV. The Association expanded its network in Europe and beyond, set a central focus on green and digital topics and established itself as a leading authority on controlling and corporate management with its conferences, expert work groups and publications.

Year in review (PDF download) 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019

The COVID-19 pandemic is an incisive event worldwide, which is having a terrible and drastic impact in many countries. With some luck and the right decisions by the Executive Board, since 2018 Prof. Heimo Losbichler (Chairman) and Matthias von Daacke (Deputy Chairman), the ICV has been little affected. In 2020, the Congress of Controllers was canceled for the first time due to the lockdown and, for the first time in the association’s history, a general meeting including board elections took place online via Microsoft Teams. The Grand Westin conference hotel is accommodating the ICV financially, the registered participants are maintaining their bookings and since a congress as an in-person event is also not possible next year due to the Covid restrictions, the 2021 Congress of Controllers will be held online. To this end, Controller Akademie AG is making its infrastructure available and transforming its own offices into “broadcast studios”. Due to the overall lower costs, the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are proving to be manageable.

The consequences of the lockdown for the life of the association will also be mitigated or even turned into an advantage thanks to the consistent use of MS Teams. Many face-to-face events will be converted into virtual formats, and free webinars will provide controllers with important content on crisis topics such as liquidity management, working capital management and risk management. At the same time, the ICV is driving forward its own digitalization and laying the foundation for automated processes in administration and event management with a “transformation map”. In 2021, the association software “VereinOnline” will be introduced, offering members a self-service portal and making workflows in working group management more efficient. Despite the restrictions during this time, Dream Car reports from the ideas workshop on topics such as “Servitization & Controlling” and “Sustainability Controlling” (transition to sustainable and digital business models) can be developed. A steadily growing number of corporate memberships and new partnerships with universities (e.g. Frankfurt School of Finance and Fresenius University of Applied Sciences) strengthened the ICV’s network.

Under the project title “Next Communication”, the association is modernizing its external image from 2022, focusing on the leitmotif “Controlling Excellence” and introducing a revised logo after almost 10 years. With webinars, expert groups and an expanded mentoring program, topics such as sustainability, AI, agility and HR controlling will also be brought more to the attention of the community. As a highlight at the end of 2024, the ICV establishes its own women’s network to strengthen the role of women in controlling and enable an even more diverse association life.

Overall, the 2020s for the ICV are characterized by comprehensive digitalization, an in-depth focus on sustainability issues and intensive global networking. With modern self-services, an expanded online and hybrid event landscape, new publications and a clear brand profile (“Controlling Excellence”), the Association continues to position itself as an internationally networked, future-oriented institution for controllers.

Annual reviews (PDF download) 2020 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024