Longview Solutions Unveils Next Wave of IFRS Initiatives

New Initiatives Include IFRS Specific Enhancements to Longview Tax, Part II in IFRS Whitepaper Series and a new IFRS Blueprint for Longview Customers

TORONTO – September 17, 2009 – Longview Solutions, a leading provider of corporate performance management (CPM) software, has unveiled the second wave of initiatives to help companies impacted by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. IFRS are standards, interpretations and a framework for the preparation and presentation of financial statements adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The goal of IFRS is to promote the understandability of financial statements, facilitate comparisons of similar companies across different geographic regions and simplify audit and statutory compliance requirements. To date more than 100 countries require, permit or are transitioning from local GAAP to IFRS.

Deadline in Canada Looming
The adoption of the IFRS is on track for 2011 in Canada, while the United States is expected to follow shortly thereafter though final dates have not yet been set. IFRS will replace the local GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) as the standard of financial reporting for all publicly accountable firms. The transition to IFRS is not insignificant and is more than just a change to some account rules and internal practices and policies. In fact, in a recent Gartner study, author John Van Decker, Research VP recommends that “Larger firms with global operations should assume that IFRS will eventually become the U.S. reporting requirement. Ensure that your CFO and the finance team have an analysis under way to identify the main differences between U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and IFRS.”ⁱ The complexity of IFRS eliminates the feasibility of using spreadsheets as a viable IFRS financial management platform. Corporate Performance Management (CPM) systems play a significant role in IFRS conversion including:

• Greater transparency in the consolidation process (audit trail from transaction to condsolidation)
• New Accounts and alternate/additional roll-ups
• Multi-GAAP reporting and reconciliation
• New level of detail where required
• Multiple layers of adjustments
• Centralized management and updates to rules/calculations
• Shorter time to close and report

“Companies that will gain the most from IFRS conversion will be those that move IFRS concepts deeper into their performance management processes, and take the conversion as an opportunity to revisit their approach to managing performance,” commented John Power, President of Longview Solutions. “Longview Solutions has invested in in-house expertise, gathered learnings from customers that have already transitioned, as well as 3rd party research to understand the latest developments and impact of IFRS. We are sharing these findings with our customers and the business community at large as part of our ongoing focus on the Office of the CFO.”

Longview Tax Now IFRS Ready
The IFRS version of Longview Tax is designed for European-based companies required to report using IFRS, as well as North American companies transitioning to IFRS and fully supports calculations and disclosures pursuant to IAS12. This has been done from the “ground up” meaning that it is not just a re-masking of the FAS109/s.3465 process. One of the main benefits of this approach is that the application will maintain parallel calculations across both FAS109/s. 3465 and IAS 12, a critical requirement when transitioning to, and reporting in IFRS. For further information about Longview Tax please visit www.longview.com/tax.

IFRS Blueprint for Longview Customers
The Longview IFRS Blueprint is designed specifically for customers that implement or already use Longview Consolidation to transition to IFRS. The Blueprint includes an onsite interactive workshop with Longview IFRS experts to document IFRS needs, a detailed summary report, a proposed work plan, timeline and high level description of data and process requirements. For further information please visit www.longview.com/ifrs.

Longview IFRS Resource Center
Other IFRS initiatives recently introduced include:

• IFRS Readiness Self-Assessment: This is an online tool that lets CFOs, financial analysts and others examine their readiness to comply with IFRS. Additionally, users can compare their readiness against that of other companies. The assessment is FREE and involves a short survey that will take less than 2 minutes to complete.
• IFRS Whitepaper Series Part II: “The IFRS Train is Still on Track Across North America: Does Your Organization Know Where It’s Going… Or is it Just Along for the Ride?” This white paper explores the impact of IFRS on people, processes and technology; the role of technology as an IFRS-enabler; and the significant value that CPM software brings to an IFRS conversion project.
• IFRS Breakfast Seminar Series - Calgary, September 24th: “IFRS Transition Management for Finance Executives: The Road To Readiness”. This seminar will feature IFRS experts from Deloitte, MicroStrategy and Longview Solutions who will discuss how to successfully prepare and transition to IFRS. For more information go to http://www.longview.com/ifrsbreakfastcalgary.

All of these resources and more are available in Longview’s IFRS Resource Center, launched earlier this yearⁱⁱ . To access the site go to: www.longview.com/ifrs.

About Longview Solutions
Longview Solutions helps companies manage the business of finance with a unified, scalable application that can automate any one, or combination of, the following financial processes: Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting, Consolidation, Tax Provisioning, Management Reporting and Profitability Analytics. Since 1994, hundreds of Fortune 1000 enterprises have standardized on Longview’s Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software to create a single source of financial truth, realizing significant improvements in data integrity, decision support, visibility and financial transparency.  Longview is a division of Exact based in Toronto, Canada, with additional offices in Philadelphia, Chicago (USA) and London (UK).  For more information please visit www.longview.com.