News and Events

Daresbury and London 2nd February 2010 – ABB, the leading supplier of spreadsheet validation services to the Life Sciences market today announced it had signed a new multi - year agreement with Finsbury Solutions to ensure continued supply of the DaCS software.

Finsbury Solutions, is a leading supplier of spreadsheet management and control software, it acquired the DaCS software in a strategic acquisition of Compassoft's End User Computing (EUC) products in 2009.

ABB has provided spreadsheet validation solutions to the Life Sciences market since 2003, and throughout that time the DaCS software has been a cornerstone of the offering to provide 21 CFR Part 11 compliance to ABB’s range of spreadsheet validation solutions.

"Our new contract with Finsbury re-enforces ABB’s commitment to provide a range of turn key solutions for spreadsheet compliance in the Life Sciences marketplace. It secures access to DaCS for new and existing Life Sciences customers, and we look forward to Finsbury further developing DaCS to meet the future demands in this market".

Jeremy Wood, Director of Finsbury Solutions comments: "We are delighted to have entered into this new agreement with ABB. Keeping tight control of critical data is imperative for Life Science companies. The combination of DaCS plus the significant industry knowledge and professional services of ABB provides a compelling solution that is available on a global basis. We have exciting plans for DaCS, with a new release already available, that provides support for the latest versions of Excel."

DaCS remains the leading 21 CFR Part 11 solution for Excel within the Life Sciences market.

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London 28th October 2009 – A new software package could save UK companies hundreds of hours of work when they switch back to the 17.5 per cent VAT rate on 1 January 2010.

Many UK business are dependent upon spreadsheets for financial and tax reporting and with this latest VAT change firms face the prospect of checking scores of spreadsheets when they change the rate.

However the new VAT software template, launched by Finsbury Solutions as part of its EXChecker spreadsheet audit software, can save companies significant time and money by automatically identifying hard coded VAT values in important financial or tax related spreadsheets.

To manually audit a typical financial reporting spreadsheet to ensure that it has the right VAT rate and is performing correctly will take at least one to two hours. As most mid size companies will have 100 or more important financial reporting spreadsheets the cost of checking and updating them will run into many weeks of effort.

By using Finsbury’s EXChecker software with the new VAT template companies can quickly scan computer network drives to identify all VAT related spreadsheets and highlight any files with VAT related values that need updating.

Jeremy Wood, Director, Finsbury Solutions, comments: "Year-end is one of the busiest times for finance departments - they are under immense pressure to produce the final accounts. This year there will be the added concern of ensuring that all systems are converted back to the previous VAT rate of 17.5 per cent. For businesses which have centralised accounting systems, this may be straightforward. However, for the thousands of businesses in the UK that are dependent upon spreadsheets for financial and tax reporting, this will be a very manually intensive task and is prone to mistakes. A hard-coded VAT rate in an important financial spreadsheet that is missed and not corrected to the 17.5 per cent rate could cost a business thousands of pounds and major embarrassment."

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Enterprise spreadsheet control solution protects critical data and combats risk, error and fraud

Brookfield, Wis, 14th September 2009 – Sibos Booth #3C03
Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced the launch of Spreadsheet Workbench* , a comprehensive spreadsheet control solution, to complement its Financial Control Solutions (FCS) suite. In a recent survey by Fiserv, nearly 90 percent of organizations believe that current practices in using spreadsheets do represent a material risk, yet the majority of respondents said they had only the most rudimentary of spreadsheet controls in place.

In partnership with Finsbury Solutions Limited, a leading supplier of spreadsheet management and compliance software, Fiserv now offers its customers the ability to incorporate enterprise-wide spreadsheet controls. Typically, material spreadsheets within an organization are unidentified and lack adequate risk controls to satisfy internal or external audit requirements. In an economic environment where companies must maximize tools already in place, spreadsheets and other end-user computing (EUC) applications represent a significant risk.

This is where Spreadsheet Workbench from Fiserv delivers value. It is designed to mitigate risk by identifying material EUC applications and enforcing appropriate control measures across the enterprise. It also assist the licensee in generating significant time and cost savings by automating processes that are labor intensive and prone to error, such as version control and spreadsheet comparison.

"Firms realize that spreadsheets pose significant risks but the problem is often perceived as too costly or difficult to resolve. As reports of crippling abuse, fraud and critical errors continue to hit the headlines and bottom lines of organizations across the globe, ubiquity and complexity associated with spreadsheets can no longer sideline efforts to gain control and transparency of this critical data," said Elizabeth Elkins, General Manager, Financial Control Solutions, Fiserv.

She continues, "With Spreadsheet Workbench, we offer customers unparalleled control over material EUC content within an easy to implement software based solution. There is no doubt that spreadsheets are pervasively called upon when making critical financial decisions and creating bottom-line reporting. The inability to prevent or even detect errors or fraud can have devastating effects on organizations, and can expose a significant weakness in their financial control framework. Add to this the economic drive for faster period-end reporting and increased audit scrutiny regarding appropriate spreadsheet controls, and it is clear that many organizations urgently need access to a comprehensive EUC control solution. We have been working to address these needs with a solution that is cost effective and easy to implement across the enterprise."

Spreadsheet Workbench provides the following functionality:

• identification of material spreadsheets within an organization
• an enterprise wide multi-user repository with full version management of spreadsheets
• access control and security
• audit trail and exception reporting
• analytics for spreadsheet comparisons
• a spreadsheet development framework that enables users to develop robust and scalable spreadsheet applications

Financial Control Solutions reinforces the Fiserv core competency in risk and compliance and is focused on the delivery of software solutions that enhance operational efficiency while mitigating financial and compliance risk. The solution suite delivers market leading capabilities across transaction matching, account reconciliation, exception and case management, account certification, balance sheet attestation, reporting, performance management and spreadsheet control.

* Spreadsheet Workbench is a registered trademark of Finsbury Solutions limited

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London, 6 July 2009 – Finsbury Solutions has been voted one of the top two providers of spreadsheet control solutions in the annual compliance software survey sent to more than 6,000 readers of OpRisk & Compliance, one of the industry’s most respected publications.

Conducted among leading financial institutions across North America, Europe and Asia, respondents were asked to rank their top five companies across eight compliance categories including GRC, Compliance Monitoring and Spreadsheet Control.

Jeremy Wood, Director of Finsbury Solutions, comments, “It’s a testament to our market leading products and commitment to customer service that we have achieved such a high ranking in this years’ survey.

“The challenging times that the financial services sector has faced over the last 12 months in managing operational risk, combined with the demands of tighter regulation has led to a significant increase in the demand for our spreadsheet control solutions. The results of the OpRisk & Compliance annual compliance software rankings clearly illustrate that our solutions are some of the most trusted in the market”.

Finsbury’s market leading solutions allow organizations to address the issues of operational risk and compliance that are inherent in the use of business critical spreadsheet applications. Spreadsheets are commonly used in financial reporting applications which are subject to regulations requiring an effective system of internal control. Examples of such legislation include the Sarbanes Oxley Act in the USA and similar regulations in France, Japan and other countries. Financial industry regulation such as Basel II and the credit rating agencies consider the level of operational risk in a business. Companies have the potential to reduce their cost of capital and improve their credit rating by improving control over spreadsheet applications.

The OpRisk & Compliance Software Survey 2009 rankings were compiled from a survey conducted over four weeks in April 2009. The survey was sent to more than 6,000 readers of OpRisk & Compliance from around the world and was also promoted through the OR&C 'linked in' group online. Respondents were asked to rank their top five companies across eight categories. The results were compiled by Incisive Research, a subsidiary of Incisive Media

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Leading spreadsheet control vendor expands product and customer base through strategic US acquisition

London, 3 February 2009 - Finsbury Solutions, a leading supplier of spreadsheet management and control software, today announced it has acquired the products and assets of Compassoft Inc, a US based governance risk and compliance software vendor. The strategic acquisition of Compassoft's End User Computing (EUC) products, strengthens Finsbury's product coverage and customer base.

Finsbury is committed to supporting and developing Compassoft's End User Computing (EUC) products. It will combine and integrate Compassoft's EUC software with its Spreadsheet Workbench solution to offer an advanced product suite for the management of spreadsheets and end user databases.

"This acquisition enables us to provide the most complete set of spreadsheet and EUC control capabilities. Compassoft's enterprise EUC system's discovery and risk profiling capabilities are the most comprehensive and scalable in the market. This will be combined with our existing Spreadsheet Workbench solution, which sets the standard for spreadsheet security, access control and analytics. With a customer base of more than 200 blue chip organisations we are now well positioned to explore further growth opportunities in this fast moving market."

Paul Bach, Board Director of Compassoft, comments: "We are delighted that Compassoft has been acquired by market leader Finsbury Solutions. We believe that the combined product offering and Finsbury's commitment to customer support provides our clients and prospects with an excellent future."

Compassoft, an early entrant in the EUC control market, was rated as the enterprise spreadsheet management market leader in March 2007 by Bloor Research. In addition, in March 2008, it received a positive rating in Gartner's MarketScope for Spreadsheet Control Products.

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Leading underwriting firm implements Spreadsheet Workbench to deliver improved control and compliance of business critical spreadsheets.

London, 27th November 2008 - Finsbury Solutions, a leading supplier of spreadsheet management and compliance software to the financial services sector today announced that Heritage Managing Agency Limited, a leading insurance underwriting firm, has implemented Spreadsheet Workbench to improve operational control and compliance of its business critical spreadsheets.

Heritage like many financial organisations use spreadsheets to support core parts of its business. Spreadsheets provide the business with a high level of flexibility however they also bring a significant level of operational risk as they can be error prone and do not provide the level of security and audit control found in traditional enterprise systems. In addition as Heritage was acquired by Argo Group, a US based insurance firm, earlier this year, it needs to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley legislation which requires specific controls of the financial reporting processes.

Jeremy Wood, Director and Co-Founder of Finsbury Solutions comments: "We welcome Heritage as our latest client. Heritage is a recognised leader in the London Insurance Market and for Spreadsheet Workbench to be selected is a great endorsement of our products capabilities and appeal."

Heritage was introduced to Finsbury Solutions via the Microsoft London Market Network, which is a Microsoft led group of software and service providers who offer pre-integrated industry focussed software solutions to the insurance market based on a common Microsoft technology platform.

Bruce McKee, Insurance Industry Manager at Microsoft commented: "We are delighted that the Microsoft London Market Network is delivering significant business value to our clients. As a co-founder of the London Market Network Finsbury Solutions play an important role in our industry solution. Spreadsheets are increasingly used to support business critical functions and Spreadsheet Workbench's market leading capabilities combined with its use of SharePoint delivers the high levels of operational control insurance firms require."

Spreadsheet Workbench is based on the latest Microsoft technologies including SQL Server 2005 and SharePoint 2007.

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Finsbury Solutions, a leading supplier of spreadsheet management and compliance software to the financial services sector, today announced that leading global alternative asset manager Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) has implemented Finsbury Solutions advanced Spreadsheet Workbench software system.

Spreadsheet Workbench is based on the latest Microsoft technologies, including SQL Server 2005 and SharePoint 2007, and provides auditability and control over business critical spreadsheets. The system provides finance, risk and audit departments with enhanced transparency and control over the financial reporting process in accordance with the latest financial legislation, such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

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Seamlessly Integrated and Scalable Spreadsheet, Document Management and Collaboration Solution Enhanced to Deliver Advanced, Enterprise-Wide Control, Monitoring and Analytic Capabilities.

London, 10th June 2008 - Finsbury Solutions, a leading supplier of spreadsheet management and compliance software to the financial services sector, today announced the launch of the market’s first enterprise-wide spreadsheet management solution specifically designed for implementation on Microsoft SharePoint 2007.

Spreadsheet Workbench, Finsbury Solutions flagship spreadsheet management system, has been architected to offer seamless integration with SharePoint and enhanced functionality for improved spreadsheet control, risk management and compliance across organisations.

Jeremy Wood, director and co-founder, Finsbury Solutions, comments: “Microsoft SharePoint is the system of choice for enterprise document management and by enhancing Spreadsheet Workbench to seamlessly extend SharePoint’s spreadsheet functionality, we have created a powerful solution for the management and control of business critical spreadsheets, from a single environment.

“Spreadsheet Workbench is quick to deploy, easy to use and cost effective. It enables organisations to reduce manually intensive spreadsheet based processes and assists with a wide range of business functions including audit, risk and compliance, trading, operations, finance plus client and regulatory reporting.”

Spreadsheet Workbench’s enhanced functionality includes:

• A spreadsheet management portal for rapid and remote deployment, enabling organisations to quickly and cost effectively rollout the solution throughout their operations globally.  
• A high performance spreadsheet comparison and analytic server for fast analysis of large and complex spreadsheets. This allows financial institutions to quickly identify spreadsheet problems, highlight irregularities and ensure compliance.  
• Spreadsheet key performance indicators for improved spreadsheet data transparency and the provision of real time management alerts set against user defined business criteria.
• High availability deployment options provide increased resilience and disaster recovery capabilities for critical spreadsheet applications.

Bruce McKee, industry partner manager, Microsoft Financial Services, adds: “Spreadsheet Workbench provides a scalable solution with powerful analytic and monitoring capabilities that complement SharePoint Server 2007 and allow organisations to manage detailed and complex spreadsheets.”

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Research Confirms Spreadsheet Control Products can Reduce Risk and Improve User Efficiency without Affecting Flexibility

London, 09 April, 2008 -Finsbury Solutions, a leading supplier of spreadsheet management and compliance software to the financial services sector, today announced that leading analyst firm, Gartner, Inc., has rated Finsbury Solutions as 'Promising' in its MarketScope for Spreadsheet Control Products Assessment, 2008, written by Jay Heiser and David Furlonger, published on 11 March, 2008.

Finsbury's Spreadsheet Workbench is the market's only enterprise spreadsheet control solution exclusively based on Microsoft SharePoint 2007. It provides a flexible, enterprise-wide spreadsheet management and compliance solution for the rapid control and development of business critical spreadsheet applications.
Jeremy Wood, director and co-founder, Finsbury Solutions, comments: "We feel this rating is a significant achievement for Finsbury Solutions, being the newest entry to the market. We believe Gartner's evaluation validates our growing presence as well as the significant role of spreadsheet control in any organization's operational risk management strategy."

"Spreadsheets support a huge range of business operations from risk management to financial and regulatory reporting. We are committed to providing the highest levels of support for these core operations, delivering the most intuitive and scalable enterprise spreadsheet management and compliance solution available."

Spreadsheet control products, so the report explains, can provide 'better levels of documentation for auditors and regulators ' and can also 'arguably reduce losses due to mistakes and even fraud'. In addition, research showed that 'Overcoming their initial resistance, spreadsheet authors are finding that these products not only improve the quality of their work but also save time'.

Companies included in the MarketScope were evaluated based on six criteria, including market understanding, marketing strategy, offering (product) strategy, product/service, overall viability (business unit, financial, strategy, organization) and customer experience.

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Leading spreadsheet management firm becomes member of Microsoft Office Development Advisory Council.

London, 18 March 2008 - Finsbury Solutions, a leading supplier of Spreadsheet Management and Compliance software to the financial services sector, today announced its appointment to the Microsoft Office Development Advisory Council. This prestigious position is only offered to a select number of companies.

Jeremy Wood, director and co-founder, Finsbury Solutions says: "Being invited onto the Microsoft Office Development Advisory Council is a significant milestone for Finsbury Solutions and is a great endorsement of our work to complement and add value to Microsoft Excel".

"As an established Microsoft partner, Finsbury is at the forefront in the use of the latest Microsoft technologies and products. Finsbury's Spreadsheet Workbench solution adds an intuitive level of control and transparency to Microsoft Excel".

Many financial organisations are heavily dependent upon business critical spreadsheet applications, and although spreadsheets provide high levels of flexibility, they also bring increased business risk. Spreadsheet Workbench helps to address spreadsheet risk by providing comprehensive spreadsheet security and access control, version history, a complete audit trail of all spreadsheet changes, plus comprehensive spreadsheet comparison analytics.

David Gainer, Principal Group program manager, Microsoft Excel development team, comments: "We are delighted that Finsbury Solutions is part of the Microsoft Office Developer Advisory Council. Finsbury Solutions provides significant added value to Microsoft applications and with its extensive experience and knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Finsbury will be a valuable participant of the council".

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Leading spreadsheet management and compliance provider joins Microsoft London Market Network.

London, February 28, 2008 - Finsbury Solutions, a leading provider of spreadsheet management and compliance solutions, today announced its participation in the London Market Network, a select group of companies that have joined forces to provide business and technology services to the London Insurance Market.

In this first-of-a-kind initiative, Finsbury Solutions joins the Microsoft-led group, along with Sequel Business Solutions, Moore Stephens, CIBER, K2, and Meridio. The group of leading-edge technology firms will combine their expertise to offer the London Market a "one-stop-shop" technology solution.

Jeremy Wood, Director and Co-founder of Finsbury Solutions, says: "The London Market Network joins a cohesive, best-of-breed pool of technologies with an optimum implementation programme. The resulting improvements in efficiency and profitability of individual London Market companies will heighten competition, which will, in turn, raise the bar of the industry as a whole.

Finsbury Solutions' Spreadsheet Workbench product resolves many of the real business and control issues that surround collating, manipulating, and storing critical business data in a spreadsheet environment. The solution will allow London Market members to seamlessly adopt robust IT controls and procedures into business critical spreadsheet applications, ensuring operational risk issues are minimized, and spreadsheet applications are more robust, scalable and supportable.

Wood adds: "This network provides a formal structure in which vendors and the business community can come together, share problems and solutions, and work out new ways to employ technology solutions faster, more cost efficiently and more effectively".

Bruce McKee, Insurance Business Development Manager, Microsoft UK, says: "All the partners have been selected because of their ability to solve a business issue or problem that exists in the London Market. They will have solved such problems before; have customer endorsements; solid reputations, and as business partners, the right cultural fit".

An invitation-only launch event of the London Market Network is to be hosted at Balls Brothers, Mincing Lane, London, on February 28th, 2008.

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Advanced spreadsheet analytics help to avert financial irregularities.

London, 16th July 2007 - Finsbury Solutions, a leading supplier of Spreadsheet Management and Compliance software to the financial services sector today announced the availability of Spreadsheet Workbench V2.10. This latest version of the product provides advanced spreadsheet analytics capabilities. Users will benefit by being able to analyse larger and more complex spreadsheets and by reducing the time required to review potential errors.

Spreadsheet Workbench is one of the leading spreadsheet management and compliance solutions for the financial services sector. It provides comprehensive spreadsheet security and access control, version history, a complete audit trail of all spreadsheet changes, plus comprehensive spreadsheet comparison analytics. Spreadsheet Workbench V2.10 builds upon these capabilities and provides some of the most powerful spreadsheet analytic capabilities available.

The financial services sector is one of the heaviest users of business critical spreadsheets. Most financial organisations use spreadsheets to support key business processes across the enterprise, including trading, operations and finance and it is not uncommon for the number of critical spreadsheets in any one organisation to number over 100,000. However spreadsheets bring significant operational and financial risks. Recent surveys by some of the leading accountancy and audit firms have shown that over 90% of spreadsheets contain errors, with over 5% of those errors being material.

Over the last two years managing spreadsheet risk has become a major item on the corporate agenda and with increasing financial regulation including Sarbanes Oxley and Basel II, plus guidance from the FSA and external auditors, organisations are now seeking to put in place spreadsheet management and compliance solutions.

Business critical spreadsheet applications can be very complex, and as they often contain large sets of complex unstructured data are difficult to analyse for problems. Simplistic analysis tools can generate large numbers of exceptions, which on further review can be shown not to result in any adverse business consequences. As a result business managers may waste large amounts of time reviewing irrelevant exceptions. Powerful analytics that enable users to focus on genuine issues can help organisations detect more critical problems faster whilst significantly reducing the cost of the review and audit process.

Spreadsheet Workbench V2.10 includes the most advanced set of spreadsheet analytics currently available and provides the business user with the capability of rapidly highlighting spreadsheet issues and errors in a meaningful and intelligent way that can avert a potentially fundamental issue.

Jeremy Wood, Director and Co-Founder of Finsbury Solutions comments, "Spreadsheet Workbench V2.10 really sets the benchmark for enterprise class spreadsheet analytics. Our ability to provide intelligent comparison and change information rapidly can make a fundamental difference in reducing the level of operational risk whilst preserving the flexibility that the business needs in its continued use of business critical spreadsheet applications".

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