Municipalities in the canton of Aargau are subject to legal and formal principles regarding the management of their accounting. A manual published by the canton of Aargau provides all the necessary guidelines and components for carrying out a correct system of accounting. Although the manual is very comprehensive, it hardly deals with reporting and controlling at all. Therefore this bachelor's thesis investigated: Which reporting and controlling instruments and risk management techniques do the top 20 municipalities in the canton of Aargau use?”

In the context of this work, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the municipalities in order to gain an understanding of how the municipalities manage their controlling and which controlling instruments and risk management techniques are used. A survey was then carried out to confirm the instruments identified. Furthermore, literature research was undertaken to obtain further insights into controlling in public administrations and their legal requirements.

The literature analysis revealed that the operational instruments of budgeting, a task and financial plan, and credit control are prescribed by law for municipalities in the canton of Aargau. The results of the survey give the impression that rolling forecasts, project controlling, investment controlling, tax controlling, investment controlling, and the competence model are regarded as fundamental operational instruments due to their high application within the municipalities surveyed. Due to the moderate use of personnel controlling, variance analysis, and the cockpit of the municipalities surveyed, there is the impression that these are optional but still advisable. Finally, the survey results indicate that the instruments of product controlling, participation controlling, cost center, and cost unit accounting follow a rather small application. Regarding risks, the IKS appears to be highly valued in terms of process risk management. For further risks, the most serious risks are identified in workshops with department heads, ranked, and then recorded in a risk matrix.