Working at TIAS: Controller Bastiaan Broere

"You have a lot of freedom to take on things you want to improve."

"We are currently in the midst of an agile working pilot and working on the rollout of business intelligence, of which I am the product owner. I find these new developments very interesting. For the execution of my tasks as a controller, I follow the PDCA cycle. This results in the creation of budgets and monitoring the actual implementation to then take action based on the (forecast) results. Speaking is Bastiaan Broere: working at TIAS since 2018, currently in the role of Controller.

Within TIAS, I collaborate with many different colleagues. This includes Program Managers, who are responsible for the program budget. They have close contact with our students and faculty. The colleagues from Program Advise are involved in recruiting new students. And the Cluster Managers, responsible for the various educational themes at TIAS.

Informing, advising, brainstorming

Because I have insight into what is going well and what is not, I can also provide a Cluster Manager with suggestions on where there may be room for a new educational program. Sometimes I simply ask a critical question or give advice from my finance perspective to not do something, but the cluster manager decides to do it anyway. There are always multiple perspectives, of course.

No-nonsense mentality

The team in our department consists of two administrators who ensure the completeness of the administration, along with me as a Controller, and a Manager. Together, we ensure that we maintain a reliable financial administration based on which we inform and advise the TIAS organization. The atmosphere in the team is quite informal. We all have a no-nonsense mentality and enjoy jokes. Everything is generally fine and very flexible. If you simply keep your commitments, it's a lot of fun. I have been doing this work - my first real job - for five years now.

Business Intelligence, something different

As the product owner of business intelligence that I mentioned earlier, I work together with a developer to identify tasks that could be automated. I go into the organization to inquire about what employees would like to see in a dashboard, the developer creates an initial draft, then I have another conversation to make quick improvements. We then try to distill the best practices from that. It's really fun to do.

Advancing to the level of a registered controller

A year and a half ago, I expressed that I have mastered the current tasks of my role and that I would like to pursue further education to grow. That was possible. The Register Controller program at TIAS seemed like a good choice. But since I didn't have all the qualifications yet, I started with the Post Bachelor in Control, a kind of preparatory course that I hope to complete next month.

Small organization with a positive impact

TIAS is a small organization. This gives you a lot of freedom to take on things you want to improve. Along with the informal work atmosphere and the fact that we belong to the top segment of educational institutes and strive to have a positive impact on society, these are the ingredients that make it appealing for me to continue working at TIAS."

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