Bakgrund och problem: Till följd av samhällets och företags ökade medvetenhet avseende hållbarhet har det banat ny väg för idéer om vad som utgör styrinformation i företag. Hållbarhet har blivit allt mer integrerat inom företag vilket har förändrat dess interna processer. Förändringar i de interna processerna har lett till att det inte enbart handlar om finansiell information längre, utan nu även hållbarhetsinformation. Som följd av detta har arbetsuppgifter omformats och utmanats vilket har ändrat controllerns arbete. Hållbarhet har fått ett sådant stort fokus att det har tillkommit en ny roll vid namn hållbarhetscontroller. Vad en hållbarhetscontroller är har inte diskuterats tidigare i litteraturen, vilket följande studie ämnar att göra.  Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om vad en hållbarhetscontroller är och gör i en organisation. Detta kommer att undersökas genom att utreda vilka arbetsuppgifter och kunskaper en hållbarhetscontroller utför och besitter för att ytterligare förstå sig på rollen.  Metod: Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod som omfattar en explorativ undersökning. Den empiriska datainsamlingen gjordes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer, som har hållits med åtta hållbarhetscontrollers samt en hållbarhetsstrateg. Vidare har det använts elektroniska källor och dokument i form av arbetsannonser. Det teoretiska materialet är hämtat från vetenskaplig litteratur och det utgörs av controllerns bakgrund, arbetsuppgifter, roll, kunskaper samt hållbarhet. Slutsats: Utifrån studien anses hållbarhetscontrollers vara en kombination av en traditionell controller och business controller, därmed en hybrid. Detta då den arbetar med verksamhetens hållbarhetsredovisning men också som en affärspartner som bistår ledningen med underlag. Hållbarhetscontrollers fundamentala roll är hållbarhetsredovisningen vilket kopplas till en kamrer. Rollen analytiker var den roll som framkom tydligast i hållbarhetscontrollern och därmed konstaterades vara den viktigaste. Rollen som pedagog ser vi idag vara mindre då hållbarhet har blivit så pass integrerat, däremot innebär rollen idag att agera mer som en coach till följd av det stora fokuset på hållbarhet. Studien kunde därmed se att rollen har skiftat från att vara en traditionell “bean counter” till en affärspartner till organisationen. Hållbarhetscontrollern arbetar likt en controller där det som skiljer sig åt är att fokuset ligger på sociala och miljömässiga aspekter. Till följd av detta innebär det att kunskap kring hållbarhet och dess riktlinjer och ramverk var den viktigaste kunskapen för att besitta rollen. Vidare behövs god kunskap för verksamheten och ett innovativt tänkande vilket är viktigt för att ständigt kunna utveckla hållbarhetsarbetet och applicera nya riktlinjer i verksamhetens kontext. Antalet hållbarhetscontrollers på marknaden ökar gradvis och med hjälp av denna studie kommer fler företag få en inblick i varför företag väljer att ha en hållbarhetscontroller i deras verksamhet. / Background and problem discussion: As a result of the company's and society's growing awareness of sustainability, it has established new ideas about what constitutes control information in companies. Increasingly, sustainability has been integrated within the organization, and the company's internal processes have changed. The change in the internal processes has developed it to be more than just financial information and sustainable information. Tasks have thus been reshaped and challenged, which has also changed the controller's work. Sustainability has received such a significant focus that a new role has been created, called a sustainability controller. A sustainability controller has not been discussed before in literature, which is the following study's intentions. Purpose: This study aims to contribute knowledge about what a sustainability controller is and does in an organization. This matter is investigated on what tasks and knowledge a sustainability controller performs and possesses to understand the role further. Methodology: The study is based on a qualitative method that includes an exploratory study. The empirical data collection was done through semi-structured interviews, which have been held with eight sustainability controllers and a sustainability strategist—furthermore, utilizing electronic sources and documents in the form of job advertisements. The theoretical material is obtained from the scientific literature on background checks, tasks, roles, knowledge, and sustainability. Conclusion: According to this study, sustainability controllers are considered a hybrid of traditional controllers and business controllers. It works with a business's sustainability reporting and being a business partner that assists the management with data. The fundamental role of sustainability controllers is the sustainability report, which is linked to a bean counter. The role analyst emerged most clearly in the sustainability controller and was the most significant. Today's role as an educator is minor as sustainability has become so integrated; however, the role needs to act more as a coach due to the significant focus on sustainability. Thus, the study could see that the role has shifted from being a traditional bean counter to a more business partner to the organization. The sustainability controller works like a controller where what differs is that the focus is on social and environmental aspects. As a result, knowledge about sustainability, the guidelines, and the framework was essential to possess the role. Furthermore, good knowledge is expected for the business and innovative thinking, which is vital to constantly develop sustainability work and apply new guidelines in the business context. The number of sustainability controllers on the market will gradually increase. With the help of this study, more companies will gain insight into why companies choose to have a sustainability controller in their operations.

Sustainability is a universal topic that has gained in significance during the last decade due to the increased risks for society as well as the environment itself. Therefore, a lot more attention is given to how companies disclose upon their impact on environment, society and governance. This paper aims to pick up on criticism to sustainability reporting regarding the variety of different frameworks surrounding this topic and investigate upon how companies use them to create their reports and if, in their opinion, unification can be reached in the nearby future. The second objective of this thesis is to explore upon and collect knowledge regarding the developing role of the new profession of the ESG/Sustainability controller. To reach the research objectives and collect sufficient data, semi-structured, qualitative interviews have been conducted with six companies and their respective sustainability reporting responsible. Previous research points out that the ‘arena’ of sustainability reporting frameworks has become too dense. This has led to companies firstly struggling to navigate through the enormous amount of regulations and guidelines, secondly adversely affected the implementation of harmonization within sustainability reporting and thirdly using their reports as marketing tools. These theoretical findings have been mostly supported by the results of this thesis. Almost all of the interviewed companies have adopted a common index, called GRI, that builds their sustainability disclosure base. However, the findings of this thesis point out that their efforts, to go beyond this reporting guideline, can be connected to motives that are either of external, operational, transparency or recruitment nature. Even though companies would wish for a common, unified reporting framework, such as the upcoming inclusion of CSRD in the future, and see potential advantages, there are some specific, current challenges that have to be overcome first regarding sustainability reporting. Nevertheless, from the data analyzed it is evident that companies are looking forward to this new, mandatory reporting regulation and prepare themselves adequately and intensively. The results of the qualitative study regarding the development of the new controller profession further suggests that the ESG/Sustainability controller has a broad post-graduate background, however, not only in business administration. One reason is that the tasks of this new profession vary by quite some margin from traditional controlling tasks and their responsibilities also go beyond merely preparing, analyzing financial reports and supporting management, but are dedicated to the sustainability reporting process and other sustainability projects.