Link-up fuels scorecard race

Arthur Andersen has teamed up with balanced-scorecard software house Gentia to create a new performance management application, intensifying the current level of competition among Big Five consultancies and financial software houses to claim a slice of the market for analytical applications.

The Andersen product is called Gentia ProfitImpact and gives managers a quick overview of a range of financial and non-financial performance indicators.

Available immediately, the application is priced from $95,000 for a 25-user package. Activity-based costing forms the foundation of the package, allowing finance directors to breakdown profits and examine different elements of their business costs simply.

The ERP big hitters and Big Five are all keen to enter the sector. SAP and PricewaterhouseCoopers are working on a balanced-scorecard application, while KPMG and PeopleSoft released Enterprise Performance Management earlier this year.

Gentia’s solutions marketing manager Mike White said: ‘Andersens will implement the software, and advise users on how best to configure the application to suit their business.’