How do high-performance manufacturing enterprises differ from others with respect to the essence and use of controlling?

Controlling is perceived differently in practice and the range of practical tools often determines its essence. The aim of this study is to identify whether the performance indicator of manufacturing enterprises is a classifying factor in that involves the practical use of controlling. A total of 357 manufacturing enterprises were interviewed through a questionnaire by means of stratified sampling in 2021/22 and a Chi-square goodness-of-fit test was used to test the representativeness. Pearson's chi-square test, interval estimates of proportions, and z-test were used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed a significant dependence between the performance level of manufacturing enterprises measured by profit and the use of a wider range of controlling tools, as well as between the capital structure and the complexity of compiling a controlling report. The findings suggest that there are considerable gaps in the potential application of controlling in manufacturing enterprises, both in terms of the many controlling tools and in terms of using a higher level of the control function through controlling reports. Should these gaps be eliminated, the performance potential of enterprises would undoubtedly increase and overall decision-making would improved.