A Control Panel is a tool that is used to manage the content of a website hosting account. This includes, but is not limited to, files, emails, databases, stats as well as other operations executed with them. The Control Panel provides a web-based interface to handle all these things and everything else associated with the hosting service via different sections in which you can access features through menus and/or buttons. The simpler to use a CP is, the simpler it'll be for you to manage your presence online in general. In the common case, the CP is the hosting account’s back office, while a separate billing account is used to handle payments and domain name registrations - if the company offers that particular service. Trouble tickets can be managed via the billing account or by using a different system.