Should the titles of controller and treasurer be adopted under Indian context? Would you like to modify their functions in view of the company practice in India? Justify your opinion?

Answer

Controller & Treasurer are independent & they have their own Perspectives & Drivers as detailed below:

Controller	Treasurer
Responsibilities include, Double entry accounting, financial reporting, Fraud measure, detective controls, Financial restatement, Compliance with statutory requirements like Rules, Accounting standards, GAAP, IFRS etc.,	Responsible for Liquidity management ( very important function), Risk Management, More focus on financial statements, follows leading practices & responsible for the future performance of company (projects cash flows)
Controller works & forecasts the events for a long term. Main focus – income statement	Treasurer works/ forecasts the events regularly ( daily / weekly) – focus – Balance sheet & future capital structure, capital expenditure etc.,
Ex: Cash involved event Controller looks from compliance angle (how to record, what GAAP provides etc.,)	Treasurer concentrates more on cash availability focus – i.e. how to bring in the required cash etc,

Therefore, from the above it is clear that, controller & treasurer have different roles to play. However, majority of the Indian companies works with Financial Controller who himself takes care of the treasury department / Portfolio.

Therefore, as far as from Indian context, it can be concluded that, controller is also responsible for treasury jobs & there is no separate treasurer / treasury department exists.

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Tasleem Ahmad