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Internationaler Controller Verein eV
In Poland, the International Controller Asso-
ciation ICV, is currently in the middle of a
restart. Dr. Tomasz M. Zielinski and his team
have taken over the responsibility for this ICV
area. Let’s hear what he wants to achieve
and how he plans to realize his aims.
What is your motivation to be the leader
of ICV Poland?
Controllers in Poland are not perceived by their
managers as they should be. They are too
often perceived as „other kind of“ accountants,
moreover, those, who are responsible for
control past activities. Frequent tasks of our
controllers are associated with the preparation
of various types of statements and reports,
usually of a financial nature. Controlling in
Poland is perceived as a supporting and auxil-
iary process. The position of controlling depart-
ments is definitely too low. The potential of con-
trollers and their possible impact on the future
success of our companies is not understood.
How can you change this situation?
We want to put a lot of emphasis on providing
ICV members with the largest range of modern
controlling knowledge. For this purpose, we
will do our best to provide access to substan-
tive materials also in Polish language. Our
ambition is also to lead the nationwide discus-
sion on the nature, role and future of control-
ling in Poland. The essence of ICV is working in
work groups. Group meetings are a platform
for our members to exchange knowledge,
experiences and contacts. We assume
continuous development and continuation of
activities of regional work groups. These are
the following groups:
Gdansk – led by Robert Panufnik,
Lublin – by Katarzyna Zulawska,
Torun – with Andrzej Derkowski at the head,
Warsaw – with Karol Sikora and
Katowice/Krakow – head by Elzbieta Gasiorek.
What are the next steps for ICV Poland?
In 2019, we plan to launch regional work
groups related to Poznan, Szczecin, Wroclaw.
We are currently looking for people interested
in engaging in the regional activities of ICV.
A complete novelty will be the launch of
Subject Work Groups in Poland to work on
specific subjects, such as: controlling in family
enterprises, advanced analytics or the resource
and process consumption accounting. Work
groups targeted at specific sectors are also
considered, e.g. production, trade, hospitals,
water supply and others. The interest is big
both on the side of our members, as well as
experts and partners. Another novelty that we
are also working on will be ICV Poland webinars.
They will give our members the opportunity to
participate in some meetings via the Internet
from any convenient place. It will also allow us
to increase coverage, involve more people
and promote good practices developed by
ICV work groups.
What are current activities?
Currently, ICV Poland gives the patronage
to two prestigious postgraduate studies.
The first are those headed by Prof. Marlena
Ciechan-Kujawa from Nicolaus Copernicus
University in Torun, run under the name
„Business Controlling“, and „Academy of
Financial Controlling in Capital Groups“ headed
by Prof. Tomasz Cicirko from the Warsaw
School of Economics (SGH).
ICV members, such as experienced controllers,
financial directors and consultants,
are lecturers at these studies. Thus, the ICV
guarantees a practical approach to training
and the transfer of modern ICV knowledge.
In future we intend to cooperate with around
five postgraduate studies in Poland.
Do you continue the tradition of the
Polish congress for controllers?
Of course we will! The 12th Controlling Intelli-
gence Adventure Congress CIA will take place
on 3rd/4th of December in Poznan. Usually
there are more than 250 participants. We offer
six lectures, a discussion panel, six thematic
sessions with twelve expert lectures – all
together this means more than 800 minutes of
knowledge exchange. Chairman of the ICV
Board, Prof. Dr. Heimo Losbichler, is responsible
for the keynote, focusing the topic “Controlling
and the role of controllers in tomorrow’s digital
business”. Our subjects during the Congress
will be Business Intelligence, Advanced Ana-
lytics, Big Data, Digitalization, Robotic Process
Automation, Reporting and Dashboards, Story-
telling and Visualization. We provide simultane-
ous translation to English. And, for the first time
in the history of CIA Congress, there will be an
“ICV Young Controllers Barcamp”, dedicated to
students. And of course we will celebrate –
there will be a surprise party in the evening.
Do you have any focus concerning
the age of controllers?
We target young controllers, too. They need
our support as well. We will show them an
attractive vision of the controller‘s profession
and a chance for interesting future professional
life. We will cooperate with selected student’s
controlling clubs in Poland, organize their meet-
ings and conferences. In addition, in 2019,
we will fund the prestigious „ICV Poland Young
Controller Award“ for those students who
will write the best graduation work in the field
of controlling.
Q
New team spirit at ICV Poland
