ACC/MAN 664 (6640): Value-Based Management and Controlling in Practice: From Strategy to the P&L

Contents
This course examines how companies create and measure value, and how controlling supports management in doing so. Starting from value-based management, growth strategies, and investment decisions, it moves to the operational levers that shape margins: commercial activities, supply chain choices, mix effects, R&D investment under uncertainty, and overhead cost allocation. The final part addresses how controllers plan, forecast, and set targets, and what it means to act as a finance business partner rather than a data provider. Throughout, the course draws on real business situations and decision problems rather than abstract theory. A case study assignment lets students apply these concepts to a specific business decision. Students will present the case study solution in a real-world management setting on the Merck Campus in Darmstadt.

Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students

• are able to apply value-based management concepts (e.g., growth and M&A logic, relevant KPIs) to assess whether a strategic or investment decision creates value.
• understand how commercial, supply chain, and product/customer mix decisions drive P&L margins, and can identify and quantify the underlying effects.
• are able to evaluate the impact of R&D investment decisions under outcome uncertainty and of overhead cost allocation methods on reported product or business unit profitability.
• are able to compare different forecasting and target-setting approaches used in financial planning & analysis and judge their suitability for a given situation.
• understand the role of the controller as a finance business partner and can distinguish between presenting data and facilitating decisions.
• are able to structure and analyze a real business case, deriving and justifying a value-based recommendation.

Necessary prerequisites
none (from Fall Semester 2027: successful completion of ACC/MAN 560)

Recommended prerequisites
Bachelor-level knowledge of cost accounting, basic familiarity with controlling concepts

Examiner Performing lecturer

Prof. Dr. Jannis Bischof Prof. Dr. Jannis Bischof, Dr. Henrik Moser (Merck), Isabelle Wodli (Merck)