IT News in Brief - 4 February

Cognos to take Lex2000

Business intelligence company Cognos has agreed to acquire US financial reporting specialist Lex2000 for $10m. Lex2000’s strengths are in complex calculations such as currency conversions and allocations across multiple organisations, said Cognos. The deal would allow it to provide customers with the tools to build operational and financial ‘data marts’ to help analyse and report company performance.

Euro invited to the Opera Release 2.50 of the modular Opera accounting system from Kettering-based Pegasus will cope with euro transactions and triangulate conversions between EMU member currencies. The euro-capable modules include sales, purchase and nominal ledgers, with a currency conversion table sorted in the program’s system manager.

Mobile phone audit service Can you tell if your client’s mobile phone bill is too high? Bournemouth-based consultancy Town & Country Communications is courting accountancy firms to help market its mobile phone billing audit service. The consultancy claims to have saved over #2m for 48 different clients and does not charge for the audit. It will, however, arrange new suppliers if the client decides to act on its recommendations.