Financial controlling in the energy sector in the Republic of Serbia

One of the biggest problems faced by the world business is the constant struggle to stay competitive in the market. The acquired knowledge and satisfied numerous technical and organizational conditions have resulted in the development of a whole range of modern management techniques whose meaningful application should enable the acquisition and presentation of relevant management models. Namely, in the light of these new circumstances, in addition to strategic and operational management, companies introduce controlling into the basic activities of corporate management. The aim of this article is to understand the importance of the controlling introduction, its role in the business process, its place in the organizational structure of the company, and the potential benefits that controlling brings. This study addresses a research gap in the literature by examining the implementation of financial controlling practices in the energy sector of a non-EU transition economy. While extensive research has been conducted in the Western European contexts, empirical studies focusing on Southeast European countries, particularly Serbia, remain limited. The article contributes to filling this gap by providing survey-based insights into managerial perceptions, controlling functions, and risk management tools in a transitional regulatory and institutional environment. The added value of this study lies in its empirical examination of financial controlling within a transition economy context, offering sector-specific insights from Serbia’s energy industry. Unlike existing studies focusing on developed markets, this article highlights managerial attitudes, applied tools, and risk-related practices in an underexplored regulatory environment. The aim of this work is to determine the influence of controlling in Serbia based on the results of practical research. Testing of statistical hypotheses proved the importance of controlling in the company. The value of this work is that it was observed that traditional management approaches, based on information obtained from conventional systems, are not sufficient and that they need to be upgraded with modern controlling techniques.