Numerous theoretical and empirical studies show a wider application of controlling. The modern business conditions are uncertain and changeable. They require a change in the architecture of bussines management. External and internal changes are more and more frequent, and the pressure of decision is increasingly a higher challenge for the menagement. Controlling is neutral and proactive, and by applying the appropriate instruments, it increases the transparency of current and future situations by providing management expertise in the process of rational decision-making and management. Answers to specific questions: what can we expect in the future, define vision and mission, how to develop and progress better. It tends to direct all decisions towards achieving these goals. Managers with their specifics require special knowledge and skills. The graduation thesis starts from the fact that for strategic and operative operations it is necessary to use the strategic and operative instances of controlling which are also the basic forms of controlling. At the beginning of the paper the significance and the way of using the most common controlling instruments are presented. For the purpose of providing a more accurate insight into the current state of control in the hospitals of the Republic of Croatia, an empirical research has been carried out on the application of control instruments in Croatian hospitals, which is one of the goals of this graduate thesis. At the end of the thesis, the significance of the real role of controlling was presented in the hospitals of the Republic of Croatia.