This article titled “The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Croatian economy” deals with exceedingly current events triggered by the pandemic, which have reflected on the national and global economy. Based on the currently available data and the survey of 358 respondents (from both the private entrepreneurship sector and public administration), the effect of COVID-19 on the Croatian economy is observed through declining employment, the required recovery years, and declining GDP. The differences and similarities between this and the great global economic crisis of 2008/2009 as well as the opinion of entrepreneurs on which crisis has had more significant consequences for the economy were examined. A linear regression model predicts the declining employment in the recovery years. The entrepreneurs agree that the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is far more destructive and devastating to the economy, primarily because there is no end in sight even though the vaccine has been found. The unanimous agreement of the entrepreneurs is that, without further measures aimed at preserving the economy put in place by the Government, it will not be possible to suppress a further decline in employment and GDP, which will lead to a prolongation of the necessary recovery time for the Croatian economy. This research is the basis for further research on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Croatian economy.

Controlling represent company’s bloodstream and in time of crisis, it comes to the fore since management strives for quality information’s to make the right decisions under uncertain conditions. Those quality decisions come from joint cooperation between well-educated controllers who can develop the right solutions and managers who are goal-oriented and need those solutions promptly. This need is more emphasized in times of corona crisis since nothing similar has ever happened before. The authors of the paper examine the respondents’ perception about the contribution of controlling in enabling companies’ survival in time of corona crisis through the increase of business process efficiency, as well as through business operations reorientation and strategy adjustment which enabled maintenance and stabilization in the first days of the corona crisis and during partial lockdown in Croatia. In order to test the set hypotheses after the usual descriptive statistics the Kruskal- Wallis H test was used on a sample of 180 companies in Croatia. A statistically significant correlation was confirmed between the role of controlling; i) in increasing the efficiency of business processes; ii) in adjusting the business reorientation; iii) in adjustment of business strategy. All employees from different hierarchical levels are aware the contribution and effectiveness of controlling in the corona crisis. This research is the basis for further research on role of controlling in times of crises.

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