Accounting for the IT overhaul
Managers loathe IT change. It is complicated, costly, and, once everything goes online, it often doesn't work as planned.
Indeed, you can hear the drumming of fingers on tables through the doors of boardrooms as they contemplate the cost and the headache involved in updating their systems, wondering if it is too late to change their vote on EU admission.
Lower cost
But there is a silver lining in this EU-mandated cloud. Many managers are running antiquated IT systems for their accounting and reporting functions, and often have to manually populate specialized reports, which is time and resource intensive. Having finally gotten that old IT system to work several years ago, they have continued to operate it on the principle that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. But state-of-the-art applications by software vendors that provide for 'data warehousing' permit a piece of data stored in a database to be characterized several different ways, based on specialized templates. They provide for greater flexibility and eliminate the need for manually prepared reports. So the IFRS IT burden could be turned into a strategic opportunity to not only add flexibility to the management of data, but also reduce periodic reporting costs.
Don't be a hero
Aleksander Domaradzki recommends that IT project mangers don't try to be heroes and get their systems up and running IFRS reports from day one. "The important thing," he says, "is to get your IFRS compliant financial statements out, even if you have to prepare some reports manually. You don't have to automate everything the first time around. IFRS will be around for a long time. Work on getting the statements out, and then in years two and three you can start worrying about the goal of full automation."
Pawe Wojciechowski, of Allianz Fundusz Emeritalny, who reported the company as IFRS ready, noted that Allianz has to apply more than one reporting standard, because of its position in the insurance and pension-fund units.
He acknowledged that becoming IFRS ready requires considerable resources comprised of "quality tools and quality people. There are qualitative things that you can apply, and there are quantitative things. I am of the opinion that you really need to focus on the quantitative things, and set them right, and worry about other qualitative matters later."
R.M.
Indeed, you can hear the drumming of fingers on tables through the doors of boardrooms as they contemplate the cost and the headache involved in updating their systems, wondering if it is too late to change their vote on EU admission.
Lower cost
But there is a silver lining in this EU-mandated cloud. Many managers are running antiquated IT systems for their accounting and reporting functions, and often have to manually populate specialized reports, which is time and resource intensive. Having finally gotten that old IT system to work several years ago, they have continued to operate it on the principle that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. But state-of-the-art applications by software vendors that provide for 'data warehousing' permit a piece of data stored in a database to be characterized several different ways, based on specialized templates. They provide for greater flexibility and eliminate the need for manually prepared reports. So the IFRS IT burden could be turned into a strategic opportunity to not only add flexibility to the management of data, but also reduce periodic reporting costs.
Don't be a hero
Aleksander Domaradzki recommends that IT project mangers don't try to be heroes and get their systems up and running IFRS reports from day one. "The important thing," he says, "is to get your IFRS compliant financial statements out, even if you have to prepare some reports manually. You don't have to automate everything the first time around. IFRS will be around for a long time. Work on getting the statements out, and then in years two and three you can start worrying about the goal of full automation."
Pawe Wojciechowski, of Allianz Fundusz Emeritalny, who reported the company as IFRS ready, noted that Allianz has to apply more than one reporting standard, because of its position in the insurance and pension-fund units.
He acknowledged that becoming IFRS ready requires considerable resources comprised of "quality tools and quality people. There are qualitative things that you can apply, and there are quantitative things. I am of the opinion that you really need to focus on the quantitative things, and set them right, and worry about other qualitative matters later."
R.M.
