A day as a Controller
A controller is the person whose name sits under the numbers. You don't book most of the entries anymore, but when the CFO, the auditors or the bank ask whether the books are right, you're the one who answers. This page follows a controller at a mid-sized company through a busy day in the middle of month-end close.
Halfway through close, hour by hour
Flux review before the office fills up
You pull the preliminary trial balance out of NetSuite and drop it into your flux file in Excel. Every line that moved more than you expected gets a comment box. Travel spend jumped. Deferred revenue barely moved, which is odd for a quarter with a big renewal. You write down questions for three different people before you've had coffee.
Close stand-up with the accounting team
Your accounting manager walks the close checklist in FloQast. Payroll accruals are done, fixed assets are waiting on a capex invoice, and the intercompany rec with the Canadian entity still doesn't tie. You keep it short. The job here is clearing blockers, like calling the plant manager yourself so your senior accountant stops waiting on an email.
The deal nobody told accounting about
Sales ops forwards a signed contract with a side letter attached. The customer can cancel within a set window and get a full refund, which changes when you can recognize the revenue. The forecast already counted it. Now you're pulling the contract apart line by line, drafting a short memo on the revenue treatment, and warning the CFO that the quarter will look softer than the board deck says.
Audit requests and a controls walkthrough
The external auditors send their PBC list, the running request log of everything they want supporting documents for. You assign items, then sit through a walkthrough of the purchasing approval control. The tester wants proof that someone other than the requester approved every purchase order over the limit. Most of it's clean. One approval was done by the requester's backup on a day nobody documented, and you'll own the explanation.
Sign-offs and the variance call with FP&A
You review and approve the big journal entries in the queue, reject one with no support attached, and then get on a call with the FP&A lead. They want the actuals early for the forecast. You give them the numbers you trust and flag the revenue deal as still open. Then you update the close calendar, because tomorrow just got longer.
Company size decides which controller you are
At a small company, controller can mean you're the whole finance team. You run payroll in Gusto, pay bills through Bill.com, close the books in QuickBooks, and handle the sales tax filings yourself. Hands-on work fills most of the day, and you'll wear a lot of hats nobody listed in the posting.
At a larger company the job is almost all review, policy and people. You own the close, the audit relationship, the internal controls and the technical accounting calls, and you manage the managers who manage the staff. Public companies add SEC reporting and SOX testing, which is a whole second rhythm on top of the monthly one.
Read the posting for clues. A controller role that lists accounts payable and bank reconciliations is a senior accountant job with a bigger title. One that mentions audit committee, consolidation or multiple entities is the real thing.
The usual ways people reach the controller's desk
Audit first, then industry
This is the most common route. You spend a few years auditing at a public accounting firm, earn your CPA, and move to a company as a senior accountant or accounting manager. Audit teaches you how the auditors think, which pays off every time they show up at your door.
Up through the company's own accounting team
You start as a staff accountant, get good at the close, and climb through senior accountant, accounting manager and often assistant controller. You'll know the business deeply. The gap to close is usually technical accounting and the audit side, so ask to own the audit request list early.
Controller at a small company
Smaller businesses and startups hire controllers with less experience than larger ones do. The title comes sooner, but you'll be doing everything yourself. It's a fast way to learn the full cycle, and a reasonable step toward a controller role at a bigger shop later.
What Controller postings ask for
Hiring the most
- Alstom Transport34
- BASF SE20
- Aramark12
- ANDRITZ AG7
- B. Braun Melsungen AG7
Remote
7% of openings are fully remote.
Posted pay
$153,750 – $187,500
Typical range in the 18 of the newest 60 postings that list pay.
Questions people ask
Do you need a CPA to be a controller?
Not always, but postings often ask for it, and public companies and audit-heavy industries lean on it hard. The CPA is a state license: you pass the Uniform CPA Examination and meet your state's education and experience rules, which vary by state. Check your state board of accountancy before you plan around it.
What's the difference between a controller and an accounting manager?
An accounting manager runs the close and reviews the team's work. A controller owns the result: the financial statements, the controls, the audit and the accounting policies. At smaller companies the two jobs blur, and one person often carries both.
Where does a controller go next?
The usual next step is VP of finance or CFO. The gap is mostly forward-looking work like forecasting, fundraising and talking to investors, so controllers who want that move should volunteer for budget and board-deck work early.
1,142 Controller jobs are open today
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