The controller(also called the chief accounting officer) is the financial executive primarily responsible for management accounting and financial accounting. This book focuses on the controller as the chief management accounting executive. Modern controllers do not do any controlling in terms of line authority except over their own departments. Yet the modern concept of controllership maintains that the controller exercises control in a special sense. By reporting and interpreting relevant data, the controller influences the behavior of all employees and exerts a force that impels line managers toward making better-informed decisions as they implement their strategies.