ABSTRACT

Brazilian controllers assume many of the responsibilities ascribed to management accountants elsewhere. Similar to the controller in Germanic countries, the controller in Brazil, while responsible for external accounting, is strongly oriented towards internal accounting. In this chapter, we examine the historical underpinnings and emergence of controllership in Brazil, as a discipline and field of practice. More specifically, we draw on empirical studies produced in the last decade to depict the role of controllers in Brazil. By juxtaposing a contemporary account of practice, with the political, economic and social background from which the first controller positions emerged in the 1960s, the chapter outlines pertinent challenges affecting the education and professionalisation of the controller in Brazil.