The First 90 Days as a New Controller: A Calgary Playbook
Stepping into a Controller role is a different challenge depending on how you got there. If you were promoted internally, you already know the people, the systems, and the history, but you now have to lead people who were recently your peers. If you came in externally, you have fresh eyes and no baggage, but you also don’t know where the bodies are buried.
Either way, the first 90 days set the tone for everything that follows. Get them right, and you build the credibility, relationships, and momentum you need to be effective. Get them wrong, and you spend the next year recovering.
This is a practical playbook for Calgary Controllers stepping into a new role, whether it’s your first Controller position or your fifth.
Why the First 90 Days Matter More Than Ever
The role of the Controller has shifted. It’s no longer just about closing the books and managing the accounting function. Finance leaders are increasingly expected to be true strategic partners, influencing operations, supporting capital decisions, and helping leadership make confident, data-driven choices.
At the same time, the environment is harder to navigate than it’s been in years. Trade volatility, shifting interest rates, tighter credit, and year-end pressure mean the finance function is under more scrutiny than ever.
According to CPA Alberta’s Future-Focused CFO report, the competencies that define successful finance leaders today go well beyond technical accounting. Strategic leadership, risk management, digital transformation, and the ability to influence across functions are now table stakes.
That means the first 90 days aren’t just about learning the job. They’re about establishing yourself as the kind of Controller the organization actually needs.
Days 1–30: Listen, Learn, and Don’t Break Anything
The temptation in the first month is to make changes. Resist it.
Your job in the first 30 days is to understand the business, not to fix it. That means:
- Meet everyone. Not just your team. Sit down with operations, sales, project managers, HR, IT, and anyone else who touches the numbers. Ask them what works, what doesn’t, and what they wish finance did better.
- Map the close. Walk through the month-end process from end to end. Where are the bottlenecks? What’s manual? What’s documented and what’s tribal knowledge?
- Understand the reporting stack. What does the CEO see? The Board? The bank? The auditors? Where are the gaps?
- Review the balance sheet. Every account. Every continuity. Every reconciliation. If there’s a reconciliation, you can’t explain, flag it now.
- Read the last audit file. What did the auditors flag? What were the prior year adjustments? What’s still outstanding?
One rule for the first 30 days: don’t sign off on anything you don’t fully understand. If something feels off, ask. If it still feels off, dig deeper. Credibility is built on accuracy, not speed.
Days 31–60: Identify the Gaps and Build Your Plan
By the end of month two, you should have a clear picture of where the finance function is strong and where it needs work. Now it’s time to prioritize.
The most common areas Calgary Controllers inherit that need attention:
- Close calendar. Many organizations don’t have a documented close calendar. If yours doesn’t, build one, and publish it.
- Reconciliation discipline. Every balance sheet account should have a named owner, a documented method, and a defined frequency. If it doesn’t, that’s your first control to implement.
- Job costing and WIP. For construction, development, or project-based businesses, the integrity of job cost coding and percentage-of-completion reporting is critical. Errors here propagate.
- Cash flow forecasting. Rolling cash flow visibility is often missing at mid-market companies. If yours is static or stale, rebuild it.
- Desk procedures. If a key process lives in one person’s head, that’s a risk. Get it documented.
Build your 90-day plan. Not a 12-month transformation roadmap, a focused set of three to five priorities you can actually deliver in the next 30 days. Get your CFO’s buy-in before you start executing.
Days 61–90: Execute, Communicate, and Build Trust
By the third month, you should be running the close, reporting to leadership, and starting to influence decisions. This is where credibility compounds.
Focus on three things:
1. Deliver the close on time.
Nothing builds trust faster than a clean, on-time close. If you’re inheriting a process that runs late, get it to run on time. If it already runs on time, make it tighter.
2. Bring insight, not just numbers.
Your CFO and CEO don’t want a data dump. They want to understand what the numbers mean and what to do about it. Practice translating results into recommendations, not just observations.
3. Build cross-functional relationships.
The Controller who only talks to finance is a Controller who doesn’t get invited to the important conversations. Meet with operations leaders regularly. Understand their challenges. Be the finance partner they trust.
The Calgary Context
Calgary’s mid-market companies, construction, real estate, energy services, manufacturing, professional services, often share a few characteristics: lean teams, manual processes, and finance functions that have grown organically rather than by design.
That’s both the challenge and the opportunity. If you’re inheriting a manual environment, you have a real chance to build something better. But you have to earn the right to change it.
The Controllers who thrive in Calgary right now are the ones who understand that the job is equal parts stewardship and leadership. They close the books accurately. They build the controls the business needs. And they help leadership make better decisions.
Action Items for New Controllers
- Build your 90-day plan in weeks 2–4, not week 12.
- Schedule monthly one-on-ones with every function leader you touch.
- Document the close calendar and publish it by day 45.
- Assign ownership to every balance sheet reconciliation by day 60.
- Bring one actionable recommendation to every leadership meeting, not just results.
- The first 90 days go faster than you think. Use them well.
About BullsEye Recruitment Inc.
BullsEye Recruitment Inc. is a Calgary-based boutique recruitment firm specializing in placing experienced accounting and finance professionals at senior levels. We understand the Alberta economy, the challenges Controllers face, and what it takes to find the right people the first time.
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