Why Your Controller Is Drowning (and What to Do About It)

Ask around: how many Controllers in mid-market finance are thriving right now?

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Not surviving. Not coping. Thriving.

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If you're honest, it's rare. Most Controllers today are stuck in a cycle of month-end crunches, delayed approvals, missing data, and constant cleanup. And when the close hits, they’re scrambling to reconcile numbers while juggling urgent AR escalations and last-minute executive asks.

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We talk to CFOs every week who are asking questions like:

"Why does it feel like we keep adding tools, but nothing actually gets faster?"
"What can I automate so my Controller isn't stuck in fire-fighting mode?"
"How do I make AP and AR run without so much manual oversight?"

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These aren’t theoretical questions. They’re daily realities for lean finance teams that have outgrown the systems they started with.

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The Problem Isn’t People. It’s Process Debt.

When your Controller spends 3 hours tracking down an invoice approval, it’s not because they’re disorganized. It’s because the process hasn’t kept up with the volume.

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AP is still run through a shared inbox.
AR follow-ups happen when Sales escalates something.
Vendor setups are ad hoc and live in tribal knowledge.
Your forecast spreadsheet gets versioned into oblivion.

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No one designed it this way. But the longer you operate like this, the more invisible overhead piles up—and your most strategic team members are buried under the basics.

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A Snapshot From the Field

A recent CFO told us:

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"Our Controller is one of the sharpest people I’ve worked with. But she spends half her week chasing paperwork or clarifying who should approve what. We’re not using her like the asset she is."

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That’s a common pattern. Controllers with the insight to help steer cash strategy are stuck in coordination hell.

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Here’s What the Best-Run Office of the CFOs (OCFOs) Are Doing

They’re getting their Controllers out of triage and into proactive operations. How?

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Automated invoice capture and AI-powered coding — invoices are routed and GL-coded before anyone has to ask.
Tiered approval workflows — no more ping-ponging across execs on $500 invoices.
Collections prioritization — follow-up is based on risk and aging, not who screams loudest.
Forecasts that actually reflect movement in AP, AR, and bank balances — not stale snapshots.

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They're not duct-taping tools together. They're creating a finance system that speaks the same language end-to-end.

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If You Want Your Controller to Operate Strategically, Give Them Room To

We hear the question all the time: "How can I get my Controller to take on more strategic work?"

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The honest answer? Stop giving them work that should’ve been automated years ago.

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Let them run the forecast. Let them shape working capital policy. Let them identify payment timing opportunities. But first—give them a finance automation system that isn’t fighting them every step.

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PS: If your Controller is stuck acting like a traffic cop for approvals, spreadsheets, and overdue follow-ups—it’s time to upgrade the system, not the expectations. We can show you how. Book a demo today.

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**Deposit placement through ICS is subject to the terms, conditions, and disclosures in the applicable agreements. Although deposits are placed in increments that do not exceed the FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount (“SMDIA”) at any one destination bank, a depositor’s balances at the institution that places deposits may exceed the SMDIA (e.g., before settlement for deposits or after settlement for withdrawals) or be uninsured (if the placing institution is not an insured bank). The depositor must make any necessary arrangements to protect such balances consistent with applicable law and must determine whether placement through ICS satisfies any restrictions on its deposits. A list identifying IntraFi network bank

Why Your Controller Is Drowning (and What to Do About It)

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