ENG: ICV Controlling Excellence Award 2022 goes to Deutsche Post DHL Group

Munich, 9.5.2022. The ICV Controlling Excellence Award 2022 goes to the Deutsche Post DHL Group, which has prevailed in the final sprint for the renowned ICV Award against SAP SE and Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG. "The winning project deals in a very convincing way with the integration of ESG dimensions in controlling and corporate management," was how the Jury justified its final decision.

The title of the winning project is “Integration of Sustainability Goals in Controlling at Deutsche Post DHL Group”. The initial impetus for this came in March 2021 when the new ESG Roadmap was communicated within the Group. The finance department of Deutsche Post DHL Group then assumed responsibility for both internal and external ESG reporting. Employees from the previous carbon accounting team in the finance department, from sustainability communication and corporate strategy were bundled into a new department, which has since been responsible for reporting processes and controlling for all three ESG dimensions. The project team started by translating the Group's ESG goals into operational and financial targets and identifying meaningful and reliable key figures for reporting and management of the ESG Roadmap. At the same time, a comprehensive internal reporting system for ESG indicators and ESG measures was set up. It is now regularly found in business reviews and performance meetings. The quality is secured by anchoring it in the internal management system. Finally, the process for investment decisions was expanded to include demanding ESG criteria. "As a result, the Deutsche Post DHL Group now has something that is still a dream of the future for most companies: a largely complete controlling system for managing ESG measures that is embedded in the financial organization," sums up the Head of the Jury, Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer, Director of the Institute for Management and Controlling (IMC) at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, at the laudation on Monday in Munich.

Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG approaches the real, existing day-to-day life of controllers with rolled-up sleeves, their own on-board resources and learning by doing

The solution from the medium-sized Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG, which was also nominated, aims at a uniform product cost determination process with simulations and scenario calculations. "The real, existing day-to-day controller work was the starting point here," Utz Schäffer summarizes the topic and puts it more concretely: The product cost determination and the associated reporting was very complex due to country, group and sometimes even individual-specific solutions. To solve this problem, the Phoenix Contact team first looked for a solution that was already available on the market. "And now it's getting exciting," says Schäffer enthusiastically, because: "It will be discarded in the end. Instead, the team itself is developing database-driven simulation software that can be used to carry out standardized manufacturing cost simulations and cost-effectiveness assessments for products and changes in production processes." According to Schäffer, the result not only impresses with its content, but also with a high level of acceptance, simplified use and greater use of simulations with significantly reduced effort at the same time. "The remarkable thing about this solution for the Jury is less the technological or conceptual new territory, but the exemplary approach with rolled-up sleeves, own on-board resources and intensive learning by doing!"

SAP SE turns the buzzword agility into a journey towards standardization with good suggestions for controlling in other companies

The aim of the project "Agile Controlling: New Delivery Model for Controlling", which was also nominated, was to make controlling at SAP more agile and flexible while at the same time efficiently meeting internal customer needs. "Let's be honest: agility is also a much-used buzzword in the context of controlling, which repeatedly raises eyebrows and raises a great deal of distrust," says Utz Schäffer, but: "That's exactly why we at the Jury consider the solution proposed by the SAP team very convincing!“. After all, the project shows a journey of no less than almost four years in the controlling area with a large number of building blocks through to the standardization of needs and the provision of services based on this for various internal customer groups in controlling. "As the Jury, we believe that the overall package of the SAP solution contains many good suggestions for controlling in other companies".

46th Congress of Controllers in Munich ensures controllers individual information advantage in challenging times

The ICV Controlling Excellence Award is traditionally presented as part of the ICV Congress of Controllers, the central two-day meeting of the European controlling community every spring. On the morning of May 9, ICV Chairman Prof. Dr. Heimo Losbichler opened the expert meeting in Munich's congress hotel The Westin Grand with a look at the current economic situation. Losbichler, who is, among other things, Head of the Controlling, Accounting and Financial Management course and Dean of the Faculty of Management at the Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences in Steyr, shows a socially, politically and thus also economically challenging time in which many experts warn of stagflation: Record inflation with price increases, especially on the raw materials and producer side, coupled with unstable supply chains and the first massive interest rate hikes in the long term. These are accompanied by a high degree of uncertainty about future economic developments. The ICV Chairman points to “many question marks”, for example in the area of ​​energy supply, lockdowns in China and upcoming wage increases.

“I can't remember that executives and controllers found the market environment calm even in the good old days, if they ever existed. Nevertheless, I believe that we are in a particularly challenging time. Controlling that faces these challenges and provides management support is all the more important,” emphasizes Losbichler.

He called on the approximately 400 participants to network for their personal know-how advantage and to use the offers of the Congress, which, under the motto "Knowledge for Tomorrow's Business", provided many impulses and best practices for the burning topics of agility, digitization and sustainability - all also ICV topics of the year - offer.

Podcasts on site with top-class interview partners: ATVISIO.tv goes live in Munich for the first time

There was a premiere to be celebrated on Monday, May 9, with the start of the 46th Congress of Controllers: ATVISIO.tv goes live on site for the first time. The format belongs to ATVISIO Consult. The company supports the ICV as the main sponsor of the ICV Controlling Excellence Award. In addition, Managing Director Peter Bluhm and his team have been a loyal companion to ICV events for many years with the Performance Manager Podcast, where he conducts exciting and well-founded interviews with the participants on site.

An overview: All winner of the ICV Controlling Excellence Award since 2003

• 2022 Deutsche Post DHL Group - Integration of Sustainability Goals in Controlling at Deutsche Post DHL Group
• 2021 Robert Bosch GmbH, Controller of the Future – People make the Difference
• 2020 BASF SE, PACE – Predictive Analytics Estimate
• 2019 Unitymedia GmbH, Value Steering Roadmap, Establishment of a Value-Oriented Management at Unitymedia
• 2018 Robert Bosch GmbH, Big Data-Based Approach to Optimizing Net Working Capital at Bosch / Diesel Systems
• 2017 EDEKA Handelsgesellschaft Südwest mbH, Directional solution for comprehensive change of the control system and controlling
• 2016 Covestro Deutschland AG, Comprehensive redesign of the entire controlling as a result of the Cavestro carve out from the Bayer Group
• 2015 RWE AG, Consideration of biases in decision-making processes
• 2014 EliteMedianet GmbH, Media Compass – regression-based optimization of allocation of the advertising budget
• 2013 Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Project team bandwidth planning, bandwidth simulation in the air traffic passenger business
• 2012 Otto GmbH & Co KG, Establishing the Activity Based Costing in the Suppliers Service Center
• 2011 McDonald‘s Deutschland Inc., Controlling of the McCafé Initiative
• 2010 Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Controlling, Developing the „SAMP“ Tool
• 2009 FIEGE Stiftung GmbH & Co. KG, Bernd Voss, on behalf of the logistics controlling team
• 2008 Lufthansa CityLine GmbH, Realignment of corporate management
• 2008 Wittlinger Therapiezentrum / Dr. Vodder Akademie, Development of a process, quality and financial controlling in interaction
• 2007 Hansgrohe AG, Business Development, Sales Up! – Growth against the trend!
• 2006 Kaufhof Warenhaus AG, Head of controlling & projects, market-oriented branch management
• 2005 T-Online International AG, Management of growth companies via the efficiency matrix
• 2004 Aventis Pharma Deutschland GmbH, FACTs Team, Finance Analyzing and Controlling Tools – FACTs
• 2003 SICK AG Waldkirch, Controller team, planning and reporting concept One Page Only - OPO