The Controller's Function as It Applies to Research and Development in Industry

The comments by J. L. Pierce, the Vice President and Controller, A. B. Dick Company, are certainly representative of the activities of the "controller" function as it applies to GE's Research Laboratory. These comments are as follows: Properly speaking, a controller neither plans nor exercises control authority, except, of course, in the confines of his own department, where he is functioning as an administrator rather than as a controller. He does not plan for the company nor for any of its operating parts; his job is to see that the responsible executives do their own planning, and that they do it properly... Yet, in a very special sense, we may say that the controller controls. By that expression, we mean that he provides the planning and control machinery and co-ordinates the efforts of the organization in using it. His work is a pure example of staff-type activity. It is for others to do the planning, make the decisions, determine policy, issue and execute operating instructions, and, in the long run, exercise control. But if any of these essentials are omitted or badly handled, the omnipresent controller is obligated to report the facts-diligently, decisively, diplomatically-to all levels of management concerned. For the specific areas which are under consideration, the specific activities of the Manager-Finance at the GE Research Laboratory can be summarized as follows. Planning 1. Prepare annually a plan for the formulation of a 5-year forecast of research programs. 2.