Applied aspects of the functioning of the controlling mechanism in the enterprise development management system

The article substantiates the applied aspects of the controlling mechanism’s functioning within the enterprise development management system, using the example of six mining and metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine and Azerbaijan. The article presents the controlling mechanism’s structural and organizational characteristics as a cyclical circuit that transforms economic information into managerial decisions through four interrelated subsystems—planning and budgeting, accounting and monitoring, deviation analysis and diagnostics, and coordination with methodological support. The study shows that a mixed (dualistic) organizational model, combining linear subordination of the controlling service to the chief financial officer with functional subordination of business-unit controllers to the chief controller, is most appropriate for large vertically integrated industrial enterprises. The study examines information support as a system-forming component of the controlling mechanism and establishes a direct relationship between an enterprise’s status as a securities issuer and the depth of analysis available from its public disclosure, necessitating proxy indicators for enterprises with limited public reporting. The applied methodical toolkit of controlling — cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis, factor and coefficient analysis, industry-specific unit indicators — is tested using real financial and production data from ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih PJSC, Zaporizhstal PJSC, Kamet Steel PJSC (Ukraine), Baku Steel Company CJSC, Anglo Asian Mining PLC, and AzerGold CJSC (Azerbaijan) for the period 2017–2025. The results confirm the high diagnostic capacity of the applied controlling toolkit: in particular, the AISC-to-market-price ratio explains the transition of Anglo Asian Mining from profit to loss in 2023, while the comparison of the net result dynamics of the two largest Ukrainian steelmakers reveals a fundamentally different trajectory of profitability recovery even within one industry and a shared wartime macroeconomic environment. A cross-country comparison refutes the hypothesis of a direct relationship between an enterprise’s profitability and the scale of its operations, confirming the decisive role of cost-management quality and the adequacy of the controlling mechanism instead. Keywords: controlling, controlling mechanism, enterprise development management, information support, CVP analysis, financial diagnostics, mining and metallurgical enterprises, comparative analysis.