Companies from formerly planned economies started to compete in the open market by the end of the 1980s and at the beginning of 1990s when transition processes began. This paper analyzes the controlling developments in specific circumstances of a transitional economy like Croatian, after almost two decades of transition. The study used the most successful Croatian companies as its sample. Also, we explored the controlling implementation in SMEs, the group of enterprises that make up 98% of business entities in Croatia, as in other countries in transition. Based on research results dating from 2005/2006, together with Osmanagić-Bedenik's results from 2001, estimations of further controlling developments were also included. In this way, controlling development in Croatian corporate sector was monitored starting from its early "registering" phase towards its "innovation" phase in the future, as was its path in developed economies. After considering various theoretical backgrounds, controlling evolution in the world, stage by stage, is presented in short to better understand its growing