This year's Controlling Newcomer Award of the International Association of Controllers (ICV) goes to WHU graduate Ali-Rabab Qureshi for his master's thesis "Developing an Early Warning System to Improve Proactive Risk Management in Non-Financial Companies ". Ali-Rabab Qureshi wrote his thesis under the supervision of Professor Utz Schäffer (IMC) and Ralf Leitermann, then Head of Risk and Internal Control at thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG. This is the third time that the first prize has gone to a WHU graduate, making WHU the first university to achieve the triple among ICV Newcomer Award winners.
Ali-Rabab Qureshi developed a process model of an early warning system as part of his master's thesis, which helps companies improve the identification of and response to valid early warning indicators. In the eyes of the ICV jury, he thus provides a significant contribution to controlling practice. In times when business risks are becoming increasingly difficult to foresee and monitor, companies with a proactive risk management will be better equipped to address the risks of tomorrow.
This year's third place of the ICV Controlling Newcomer Award also went to a WHU graduate, with Niklas Werle receiving recognition for his bachelor thesis "Shared-Service-Centers (SSCs) as an Efficiency Driver in Controlling – how to integrate SSCs in Henkel's Finance Function?". Niklas Werle wrote his thesis under the supervision of Professor Marko Reimer (IMC) and Isabel Oesterle, Head of Global Controlling Shared Services at Henkel. Niklas Werle's thesis analyses how a company's finance function can use Shared Service Centers (SSCs). While controlling tasks have typically been performed in functional business units in the past, he explores under which circumstances SSCs can take over these tasks.
The Controlling Newcomer Award is dedicated to the transfer of innovative and applicable ideas from the academic to the professional controlling practice and was handed over to Ali-Rabab Qureshi and Niklas Werle at the "ICV North-East Conference" in Schwerin on September 18, 2021.