'Reflections on the future of finance and control' is a journey. A journey, that aims to contribute to the advancement of the controller's profession. As is typical for a journey, it never ends. From that perspective this book merely is a step on the path of professionalism. We reflect on this path from two different inroads: controller's competencies and controller's cognitive skills.

Part I of the book presents the outcomes of exploratory research into developments that determine job critical aspects such as 'role to play', 'functional and leadership competencies', 'qualifications' and 'learning environment'. Acknowledging influences of progression made us realize that studying developments that determine the competencies controllers should have would not be enough to describe the changing world of the controller.

Part II addresses a number of topics which are related to recent developments regarding the more technical knowledge and skills controllers need. Although we do not aim to be complete, a reflection on the future of finance and control would for certain be incomplete if these developments were absent in this book. The topics were selected based on their relevance today.