This paper describes an analysis of the profession of controller; this is a profession that has changed remarkably in the past few decades and that has features that distinguish it in many ways from other groups of experts within the organisation. The results of a questionnaire survey show that the involvement of controllers both in operational decision making and in strategy development and implementation is recognized by Hungarian top executives. At the same time, the traditional role of the

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... ontroller as a data provider is very much alive and growing and the role of consultant is limited to injecting economic common sense. These limitations of the latter role can be partly traced back to the local managerial mentality in the CEE context. Research interests: management control system design, controllers' role and the relationship between system design and roles. 8