The process of controlling is a subset of most modern management concepts which have been adopted by various corporations throughout the industry in general. The introduction of controlling and its acceptance refers to the development of management itself, meaning that formerly centralized management responsibilities have increasingly been distributed to lower levels of hierarchy (often due to economic growth). Such delegation of management responsibility also implies a higher effort to coordinate managerial workflows within corporations. Therefore, controlling can be described as a concept of coordinating decisions on different levels of corporate operation and responsibility. It implies the identification and provision of all internal and external information, which is required to ensure rationality in terms of effectiveness and efficiency of corporate governance throughout the whole management process. Since controlling is an extensive cross-functional concept to assist the overall management, its methods and instruments allow for improved and targeted control of complex projects and operations.

The concept of controlling is divided into the following components:

• controlling processes (concept of workflows)
• controlling structures and organization (operational and strategic corporate dimension)
• controlling systems (e.g. affecting business financial statements)

In competition for markets and audiences, media companies require an economically reasonable mode of operation when dealing with issues like equity and debt, investment, cashflow and revenue. Budget planning and management remains a crucial necessity when heading for sustainable media business operations. The Budgeting and Finance module complements the participant´s comprehensive overview of finance-related subjects by examining concepts, techniques and tools used throughout the industry to make effective investing, financing and working capital management decisions.

The corporate perspective of this module of etma media management online training also includes a view on financing challenges and problems arising in context of specific media projects. The overview is additionally characterized by touching topics like advanced capital budgeting (e.g. estimating future operating cash flows), financing decisions (e.g. capital structure theory and practice, long-term financing), initial public offerings, working capital management and multinational finance. External financing options involving banks, investors and other sources are as well subject to examination throughout this media management training unit.