To control a speed of a cutting device in such a way that a buffer capacity of a stacking magazine is always sufficient, even with an irregular supply of printed matter, to avoid the stacking magazine overfilling.

A cutting device (1) comprises: a cutting mechanism (12) for cutting printed matter (3); and a supply device (4) supplying the printed matter (3) to the cutting mechanism (12). In a method for controlling a speed of the cutting device (1), a stack (10) of the printed matter (3) is constituted from the printed matter (3) before the cutting, the printed matter (3) of each stack (10) to be constituted is detected, the actual cycle number (T_E) of the cutting mechanism (12) is controlled so that the stack (10) to be constituted is supplied to the cutting mechanism (12) within a time window (25) on the basis of an arrival time point of the final printed matter (3) of each stack (10) to be constituted.