Quarterly December 2007 - Odfjell

What they actually doShip Management ControllerBy Bjarte WettelandVessel photos: Fleet Electrical Engineer Tom Olaf JensenOver the recent years a position as controllerhas become increasingly commonboth within governmental organisationsand private companies. As thetitle implies, the position has a controlfunction, usually within the financialarea. Controllers were previously referredto as “Internal auditors”, andhave in fact many of the same tasks.The controller title serves as a guidelinewith regards to the actual functionsand positions, which are tailored to thespecific needs of the organisation. Inother words, the position is not strictlydefined, nor is it certified such as forinstance a medical doctor or lawyer. Ina way, you may look upon a controlleras a “navigator” within the area of finance.As for a navigator on a ship, thecontroller assists the “captain” (head ofa department) in finding a safe course,alerting on obstacles and shifting conditions,suggesting “evasive actions” withestimated consequences, and when necessaryre-computing the ETA. “ETA” inthis respect being estimated “cost anddegree of success” relative to the goaland corresponding plan (budget) forthe business.Ship Management ControllerBjarte WettelandThe challenge is not only to register theresult of a decision and activity in retrospect,as can easily be seen in the accountingsystem. The controller shouldalso actively look ahead, make plansand propose actions for improvement. Itis also important to realise that to keepthe monetary goals is not necessarilyan indication that you have a “soundship”. On the contrary, in unfortunatecases keeping the budget can turn outto be only “goal” reached, while importantresources such as manpower andmachinery both suffer from mistreatment.Obviously, in a longer run a situationlike that will become evident, butit has to be avoided as early as possible.In other words, we should have a systemof indicators that provides relevant“read-outs” on the business, withoutunintentionally turning the business tosatisfy the indicators.A crucial issue in this respect is to avoidsub-optimising. As in many other aspectsof life, you get the behaviour youmeasure. To be responsible for a resultone also needs to have the correspondingauthority, and in any business keepingthese two elements together is essential.Odfjell has tailored its own controllerpositions, and currently we have controllerswithin the Finance and Accountingdepartment and the relatively newposition as Controller and ProcurementAnalyst at the Ship Management department.As the latter job-title implies, theposition has two different main tasks.The Procurement Analyst part includesassisting in the follow-up on existingcontracts with Ship Management’s strategicsuppliers and their performance,and to evaluate possible new areas toenter into a long-term contract. TheController part of the position entailsassisting in the budget process prior tothe budget year, and monitoring theperformance of the fleet throughoutthe year. As mentioned, the point is notonly to register the result of a decisionor development, but also to be pro-activein trying to avoid major “course deviations”.Hence, it is not sufficient onlyto “control” and monitor. The controllershould assist the ones actually doing thejob; the ship management teams, superintendentsand fleet section managers,by improving their ability to make necessarycourse alterations prior and notafter problems have arisen.This includes tasks such as tailoring reportsfrom our current data-systems tothe actual needs of key personnel, aswell as contributing to adjust the systemsto the needs of the business. Thelatter can be to add more codes in ourcurrent data-systems in order for thesystems to serve as improved “radardisplays” both for day-to-day overviewsand for more long-term targeting. Oneexample in this respect is our budgetingsystem, from which we may extract22 Odfjell Quarterly December 2007