The most recent articles from Accountancy Age

AATV: What to ask when buying software part 2

2008-10-10T11:09:00.000Z

Accountancy Age, Friday 10 October 2008 at 11:09:00

The second part fo Dennis Keeling's tips on buying software

Rachael Singh introduces the second part of Dennis Keeling's guide to asking the right questions when buying new software.

Softworld: rescue packages

Kevin Reed — 2008-10-09T18:17:00.000Z

Kevin Reed, Accountancy Age, Thursday 9 October 2008 at 18:17:00

Softworld's exhibition could help save your business

As the downturn bites into cash reserves and improving efficiency is the name of the game, investing in new business software could be the most important decision you make this year.

One of the UK’s leading business software experts, Dennis Keeling, predicts that business will clamour for the latest IT tools to help steer their business through tough times.

‘People are looking at improving cashflow, reducing debt, and improving office efficiency, which can reduce headcount,’ says Keeling, chief executive of Business Software Intelligence.

With Keeling set to present ‘how to select specialist software applications’ at next week’s Softworld Accounting and Finance Solutions exhibition, he believes business can save millions of pounds with just a small investment in software.

‘By spending thousands they can save millions. Companies can buy software because it’s a capitalised item and can be written off over a few years, so they’re happy to approve budgets.’

He is joined by a number of top guest speakers at this year’s event held in London’s Olympia.

Holt JCB’s finance director Richard Briere discusses how to reduce complexity with end-to-end solutions, while Smith & Williamson’s Stephen Briggs will provide practical advice to SMEs on weathering the economic storm.

It has the largest number of exhibitors for a number of years, at around 50.

Two of the biggest players, Agresso and Coda, will exhibit together for the first time since they merged, boasting a full range of financial products and services to business of any shape or size.

‘We can offer existing customers new solutions to complement their current portfolio including Agresso’s HR and payroll solution to CODA customers and CODA’s powerful consolidation tool to Agresso customers,’ says MD John Crooks.

COA Solutions, formerly CedarOpenAccounts, will show its managed service offering at the show.

Winning Moves is launching its online benchmarking tool at the show, Winning Measures for Finance.

Developed in consultation with the profession, Winning Measures for Finance is designed to help accountants and financial professionals generate new income, attract new clients and strengthen their existing client relationships.

For more information go to Softworld.com

Coda strengthens its IFRS compliance

Rachael Singh — 2008-10-08T16:39:00.000Z

Rachael Singh, Accountancy Age, Wednesday 8 October 2008 at 16:39:00

Coda's new software helps companies transition from GAAP to IFRS

Financial software provider, Coda, has upgraded its software to include greater compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards.

Released as part of Coda 2 Control, it will give users more flexibility and is designed to help multi-company and international organisations deliver group reporting and accounting.

Debbie Ashton, product director at CODA said: 'The new release delivers a whole range of options for IFRS-compliant financial control and statutory group accounting'.

The latest version will enable dual reporting under GAAP and IFRS to meet transition requirements.

Iris still on the acquisition trail

Rachael Singh — 2008-10-07T16:37:00.000Z

Rachael Singh, Accountancy Age, Tuesday 7 October 2008 at 16:37:00

Iris increases its market share among not for profit organisations

Accountancy software provider Iris has announced another acquisition. The company takes over Charity Software Limited, which trades under the brand Donor Strategy.

The move strengthens the company's position as one of the top supplies to the not-for-profit industry and will increase its market share to 54% of the top UK charities. Donor Strategy is aimed at smaller charities and Iris currently works with predominately larger ones.

Simon Fowler, MD of IRIS NFP Solutions said: 'There is a tremendous synergy between the brands and the product portfolios are entirely complementary.'

'By bringing Donor Strategy into IRIS NFP Solutions, we are able to offer an unparalleled wealth of knowledge and experience to this specialist sector; a factor that will undoubtedly strengthen our ability to satisfy a wider range of needs' he added.

Donor Strategy was established in 1994 by Jonathan Air, and is based near Bristol. Air will remain in an advisory role in the initial stages, moving on to pursue social entrepreneurial projects in Africa.

Outsourcing: ditch the donkey work

Robert Salvoni — 2008-10-02T17:43:00.000Z

Robert Salvoni, Accountancy Age, Thursday 2 October 2008 at 17:43:00

Accountants have missed the point of outsourcing

The global spend on outsourcing is on track to break records in 2008; its popularity fuelled by the uncertainty of current business conditions. Accountants have been slow to take to outsourcing with many seeing it as a cost cutting exercise that is just not compatible with that of professional service delivery. But to view it in this way misses a valuable point.

Outsourcing is not just about cutting costs in the practice environment: it provides far more tangible benefits allowing practices to achieve growth and increase competitiveness without taking risks.

For any practice looking to grow during the economic downturn, it is faced with a stark choice. It can either to go for the risky and expensive option of employing new staff, which in itself can be a mine field, or outsource a percentage of its compliance work to a provider that can be held accountable.

As with any service, you get what you pay for and the decision should be based as much on the service levels and quality, as much as the hourly rate.

Unlike in other industry sectors, jobs will not be lost through outsourcing. With fewer joining the profession, it is becoming harder and harder to recruit and a smaller pool of candidates has led to an increase in salary expectations.

This has a severe knock-on effect with senior staff forced to undertake lower value bread-and-butter compliance work. This is a missed opportunity, as the challenge and interest of stimulating, higher value work is one of the major factors in the motivation and retention of key staff and there simply isn’t the time to do this.

In this environment, client retention becomes an issue. Firms are operating in an increasingly competitive environment and time needs to be freed up to allow senior staff and managers to work with clients, adding value and improving service levels.

Although cost cutting is clearly near the top of the priority list due to the current difficulties, it should not be the primary driver for outsourcing compliance work.

Outsourcing is a safe option for those working in the profession because of its inherent flexibility and because it offers the opportunity to ‘pick and choose’ when and where they outsource the production of accounts, bookkeeping, VAT returns and tax work.

Robert Salvoni is managing director of Iris Accountancy Practice Solutions

Profile: Bryan Clark, chief information officer at KPMG Europe

Kevin Reed — 2008-10-02T17:10:00.000Z

Kevin Reed, Accountancy Age, Thursday 2 October 2008 at 17:10:00

Getting the right infrastructure is instrumental in consolidating KPMG’s European businesses, chief information officer Bryan Clark tells our reporter

KPMG Europe’s chief information officer has made around 30 trips to India in three years from his London base. Throw in visits to its Euro buddies in Germany, Switzerland and now Spain and he might well be propping up the airline industry on his own.

For Bryan Clark the jet-setting has been just one small aspect of his role in bringing together KPMG Europe to create a 23,000 staffed business with over e4bn (£3.1bn) in revenues. And India? Well it’s where KPMG UK has offshored its technology and applications support.

This big IT deal, which brought about a high quality service and ‘significant cost savings’ for the firm, might have lost some of its appeal with the merger in 2007. But the deal has encapsulated the way the infrastructure of the new business is set up. ‘We think of it as a resource we can use as a basis for consolidation of KPMG in Europe,’ explains Clark.

Put simply, the best bits of technology across UK and Germany have been picked as the basis for the ‘new’ firm. But with KPMG’s former UK CIO in charge, and a recent deal with BT, is the UK dominating proceedings?

‘No, you’ve got to have one nationality in that role; [it] doesn’t mean the UK is running things,’ he responds.

The best example of this is the platform which KPMG Europe and all the other global KPMG firms are moving onto. The German’s SAP system was chosen over the UK’s Oracle legacy systems for Europe and subsequently everyone else.

‘We were very much an Oracle shop. We had an existing system enhanced over the years and provided the capabilities needed, but we anticipated we’d be changing in 2010, so the timing was great.’

Clark continues: ‘It’s more than just rolling out SAP. We’ve made significant investment in defining what our processes are to ensure we have a common set of processes worldwide. That’s not happened yet. It has in some countries but the programme of change will take a couple of years to complete. The work we’re doing in Europe is completely aligned with that.’

So KPMG Global, or just plain old KPMG, is just around the corner then?

Clark says KPMG doesn’t have ‘short-term goals’ to create a global enterprise, but ‘the KPMG brand represents global consistency’.

‘Ultimately what we’re about is getting a consistent service to our clients… so it’s the art of the possible. Regional consolidation is absolutely the right way to do this,’ says Clark.

With further consolidation expected in Europe at the very least, the details of the formation of KPMG Europe are of great importance and significance. Firstly in terms of the ‘ease’ in which firms can expect to join in the fun at KPMG Europe and, secondly, the template that now exists for other regional consolidation plans.

Spain for example, will not represent the same scale of challenge as bringing together the UK and Germany.

‘It’s much more straightforward because we have a template built over past two years. The list of jobs is easy to define and, while the Spanish firm is a significant enterprise, it’s not as big as the already merged organisations. A lot of the hard work in creating the platform is already in place.’

Nuts and bolts

Clark says that a 90-day plan was put into place ‘to identify the direction we wanted to travel’ after the formalities were completed.

For the IT infrastructure team they went back to the basics of how they operate as a department. They focused on three ‘layers’, as Clark calls them process; collaboration between clients and staff; and scalability of the infrastructure itself. ‘We did stuff in all those layers simultaneously.’

Which, in the real world, meant initially getting networks in place between the UK, Germany and Switzerland to accommodate cross-border communications traffic such as emails and transactions.

‘We made sure everybody could see phone numbers [across the new firm], websites were accessible, and we could do consolidated financial reporting. There was an expectation of high volumes of data transfer initially so we made sure we had high speed connections.’

The next step was to help staff work more closely. ‘So collaboration sites were implemented, new planning tools to meet client demand, then move as quickly as possible to implement the new [SAP] system.’

Then they looked for synergies to reduce cost, ‘standardising things so everyone’s working environment was similar. It was hugely complex.’

Despite IT’s efforts over the past few years, Clark, a KPMG partner, sees the role as serving the requirements of the business rather than influencing strategy.

‘That would be the tail wagging the dog to turn up and say: “Put in this great technology.” We start with what the business wants to achieve. What drives what we are doing from a technology and process point of view is we want to provide a better and more consistent service to our clients across Europe. What do we have to do to make that happen?’

The dynamism of a huge firm like KPMG is driven through its client-facing functions of audit, tax and advisory.

‘That’s where the action is,’ Clarks says. The CIO, his team and the other infrastructure departments are there to deliver based on the requirements of those dealing with clients.

Helping staff to be more productive and cutting costs are the order of the day, such as introducing an internet-based phone system.

‘IP telephony is a fantastic thing to enhance. To click an email and dial a client directly from a PC is not just a gizmo it saves time. If we can save a lot of minutes then it leads to hours and days,’ says Clark.

‘The collaborative technologies increase the effectiveness of individuals and teams and, in a competitive place for talent, it makes us a more desirable place to work. We’ve got to cater for a younger generation of employees who expect to have that technology. So the investments we’ve made in making people effective are extremely worthwhile.’

For now, most of Clark’s attention is on Spain, where he is no doubt planning to make another trip very soon.

‘Wouldn’t it be great if you could just merge things together, flick a switch and everything was absolutely consolidated overnight? But it takes time to consolidate and you can’t wait too long to achieve benefits.’

IT for IT’s sake?

‘Technology shouldn’t be decided at an executive level. A direction or intent maybe, but the specification and creation has to be done closer to the teams that are working with the clients, says Clark.

‘That’s the excitement of my job, to try and relate the technical capability to the business’ needs. It’s not easy in such a diverse business.

‘But we would look for innovation and ideas and relate them to business intent. We can be influential but it’s not the technology group’s role to pull change through. We need to understand the business intent then decide and recommend a strategy to achieve that intent.’

Cost-cutters

IT is a major element of KPMG costs, although Clark won’t t reveal how much of a cost, only that it’s ‘as much as necessary and as little as possible’.

‘What we’ve done is pursue a policy of more for less, with steady trends in increasing our efficiency, while reducing the number of people we need to do the work in infrastructure.’

Clark then says something that would be music to most FDs’ ears: gain a quick return on IT investment.

‘A big part of the job is to manage the evolution of our costbase. For some time we’ve tried to work on the principle that infrastructure investment should have a very short payback period.’

The business partner

Clark is one of the few partners at KPMG Europe who isn’t client-facing as part of the day job, but it’s no big deal for him.

‘It’s slightly unusual,’ he says, but as technology is increasingly part of the service the firm delivers to clients then they often chat to Clark and his team to get an understanding of how it all works.

He doesn’t mean implementing large scale IT work for them but more that technology underpins the firm’s service to clients.

‘We also meet client-facing teams to give them experience of things that would be of interest to their clients.

‘We’re not complete boffins, we do realise the commercial reality of the organisation.’

Online banking fraud soars 185%

AccountancyAge.com — 2008-10-02T08:50:00.000Z

AccountancyAge.com, Accountancy Age, Thursday 2 October 2008 at 08:50:00

Losses from online banking fraud have soared by a huge 185% in the first half of the year

Online banking fraud losses totalled £21.4m during the six months ended June 2008 – a massive 185% up on corresponding 2007 figures.

Figures released by UK payments association Apacs show the increase from £7.5m in H1 last year is chiefly the result of criminals targeting e-banking customers through phishing and spyware scams because they are unable to attack the banks' own systems.

More than 20,000 fraudulent phishing web sites were set up in the first half of 2008 – a massive 186% jump on the same period last year, while card fraud losses also reached record levels – up 14%, to £301.7m.

According to Apacs, more than 40% – as £121.2m – was the result of card fraud abroad, involving criminals using stolen UK details at ATM and retailers in countries which have not rolled out chip and PIN technology.

KPMG set to integrate its global IT

Kevin Reed — 2008-10-02T00:09:00.000Z

Kevin Reed, Accountancy Age, Thursday 2 October 2008 at 00:09:00

Firm just a couple of years away from rolling out systems to standardise business processes across the world

KPMG is set to roll out a standardised IT system across the world, its European CIO said.

But the plans do not entail the creation of a formal global firm, Bryan Clark said, at least not in the short term.

The firm is just a couple of years away from rolling out systems to standardise business processes across the world.

Clark said that significant investment had been made to ensure a common set of processes worldwide.

The firm does not have ‘short-term goals’ to create a global enterprise, but ‘the KPMG brand represents global consistency’, he said.

‘Ultimately what we’re about is getting a consistent service to our clients… so it’s the art of the possible. Regional consolidation is absolutely the right way to do this,’ said Clark.

KPMG Europe chose Germany’s SAP system over the UK’s incumbent Oracle system to roll out across the business, with the rest of the globe taking on the same processes over the next two years.

Spanish consolidation into the European firm will be more straightforward. ‘The list of jobs is easy to define and, while the Spanish firm is a significant enterprise, it’s not as big as the already merged organisations.’

Spain officially joined KPMG Europe this week to create a 23,000 partner firm across 75 offices with revenues in excess of t4.2bn (£3.3bn) in 2007.

The firm is set to report its numbers in euros, with the UK firm filing its accounts to Companies House.

AATV: What to ask when buying software part 1

2008-09-26T11:00:00.000Z

Accountancy Age, Friday 26 September 2008 at 11:00:00

Dennis Keeling presents the first part of his guide to buying financial software

Rachael Singh introduces Dennis Keeling, who takes us through the first part of his guide on what to ask software vendors when upgrading your technology

Agresso win technology battle against SAP in Bedford

Rachael Singh — 2008-09-19T12:47:00.000Z

Rachael Singh, Accountancy Age, Friday 19 September 2008 at 12:47:00

Bedford Borough Council sign new contract with Agresso

Bedford Borough Council has signed a contract worth more than £400,000 with Agresso software making it the core financial system for the authority and taking over divisions that currently use SAP.

The IT company will also assume responsibility for services provided by the county council, which currently uses SAP software.

Frank Branston, mayor of Bedford said: 'Selecting Agresso means we have a fit for purpose system that the unitary authority will be able to rely on for accurate and up to date financial information.'

'The Agresso system will be housed and operated by Bedford Borough Council so we have the ability to tailor it to meet the needs of the authority' he added.

Earlier this month Agresso UK announced revenue increases of 33% to £138.3m in the first half of 2008. The acquisition of CODA this year played a pivotal role in the groups results as its income was consolidated with the group in February. Excluding CODA figures, Agresso saw Q2 growth of 10%.

Softworld puts return on investment high on its agenda

Rachael Singh — 2008-09-19T12:45:00.000Z

Rachael Singh, Accountancy Age, Friday 19 September 2008 at 12:45:00

Softworld announces companies and masterclasses to entice delegates

The Softworld Accounting and Finance Solutions Exhibition this autumn and will see the two day event hosting a range of masterclasses, exhibitors and revealing an array of launches.

Masterclases include how to select specialist software applications by technology veteran Dennis Keeling; reducing business complexity with end-to-end solutions led by Holt JCB finance director Richard Briere; how to take a structured approach to successful finance system implementation by Insight MSC managing director David Muller while Accountancy Age editor-in-chief Damian Wild will chair a panel discussion on ensuring technology delivers a return on investment.

The biggest names in financial software will have stalls set up around the venue in London Olympia with Oracle, Iris and iB Solutions among them. While Access, Artisiam and Version One all launching new products.

Delegates will also be treated to a new dedicated Specialist Software Zone featuring Niche providers such as Web Expenses, Etap on Line and Adra Match.

The event will take place on 14 & 15 October for more information you can check out the Softworld website.

http://www.softworld.co.uk/

KPMG recruits online to reduce carbon footprint

Rachael Singh — 2008-09-19T11:43:00.000Z

Rachael Singh, Accountancy Age, Friday 19 September 2008 at 11:43:00

KPMG is to hold a technological global recruitment fair with a zero carbon footprint

KPMG is to hold its global recruitment fair online for the second year running in a bid to keep its carbon emissions down.

The Big Four firm will launch an online site next week for 48 hours to allow global candidates to view jobs in various countries, where they would have the ability to download the vacancies and job applications as well as up load CVs.

Keith Dugdale, global head of recruitment at KPMG, said: 'Whilst the credit crunch is clearly having a big impact on job opportunities in the developed economies of the West, many of our KPMG member firms across the globe continue to experience double digit growth and have a huge need for experienced professionals.'

The previous year KPMG spearheaded a virtual fair by using virtual world Second Life, but the firm has this year decided to go along a more traditional route.

Dugdale said: 'Second Life was a bit weird last year.'

The firm will be using a Web 2.0 platform and candidates can download job applications and use instant messenger when contacting KPMG staff.

The event is open to all candidates with Dugdale adding: 'This is for external candidates. We hope to entice candidates from other firms and also investment bankers'.

The event is to take place on Wednesday 24 September 9am GMT and will end on Friday 26 September 9am GMT.

Moulton slams 'absurd' accounting for banks' crisis

David Jetuah — 2008-09-19T10:07:00.000Z

David Jetuah, Accountancy Age, Friday 19 September 2008 at 10:07:00

Private equity firebrand says 'absurd' accounting rules must be partly to blame for the current market troubles

Jon Moulton has branded the accounting rules governing banking disclosures 'absurd' after the implosion of Lehman Bros.

Speaking to Accountancy Age before a high-profile COA Solutions conference at the ICAEW in London, Moulton said: 'Lehman Brothers went that way because [investors] didn't trust the numbers. They didn't trust the numbers because they don't understand them because of the complexity of the things that are put in place and the absurd accounting that's been wrapped around it.'

The 'How to prosper in a downturn' event was attended by 150 FDs looking for guidance on how to make the most of tricky market conditions.

Moulton was referring to the mark-to-market requirements of fair value, which force companies to put a price on assets at current market value. Companies often have to use complicated models to work out the values because there is no market for some of these holdings.

Moulton said that efforts to iron out the kinks in accounting rules by standard setters were welcomed, but there was still a long way to go.

'Anti-complexity projects are at a least a gesture in the right direction, but actually they need putting through with an axe,' he added.

Laptops stolen from the Insolvency Service

Rachael Singh — 2008-09-18T12:54:00.000Z

Rachael Singh, Accountancy Age, Thursday 18 September 2008 at 12:54:00

Insolvency Service reports break-in at its premises

The Insolvency Service has had the personal details of insolvency practitioners stolen from its offices. Four laptops were taken in the theft but three had no information on them.

The IT equipment that does have information also contained details of former directors from 122 companies that had become insolvent, creditors and investors.

The theft was reported to Greater Manchester Police when staff realised that the laptops had been stolen.

In a statement the IS said it was 'working with Greater Manchester Police to try to recover the computers that were stolen from its premises.'

The IS has written to all those that it believes may be affected by the theft and has set up dedicated help lines to answer any queries.

If you are an insolvency practitioner who has received a letter or has a query relating to this matter, the IS has asked that they be contacted via email: IPPolicy.Section@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Topaz software bought by Safe Computing

Rachael Singh — 2008-09-17T15:38:00.000Z

Rachael Singh, Accountancy Age, Wednesday 17 September 2008 at 15:38:00

Safe Computing aquires Topaz to produce a company with an annual turnover in excess of £10m

Financial software providers Topaz has been acquired by Safe Computing the provider of payroll and billing application technology.

Combined they will have over two hundred customers in the finance and HR sectors with an annual turnover in excess of £10m.

The two companies have been businesses partners for years, and as a result have overlapping customers. The company is hoping that it will be able to deliver a complete software solution to businesses in the future.

Sandy Scott, managing director of Safe Computing said: 'We believe in the longer term many more organisations will be looking for an integrated “business out a box” service and we intend to be a leading provider of these solutions in our selected markets.'

Geoff Griffiths the Managing Director at Topaz will be joining the Safe Computing Board.

Safe Computing recently announced its Software as a Service HR and Payroll offering and plans on extending this to include the Topaz products.