Top UK FTSE Companies Don't Speak New Reporting Language; Survey Reveals More Education is...

PARIS -- Over half of FTSE 350 directors surveyed have not heard of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) - a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data, which cuts down on the supporting cycle and aids compliance.

The finding is from a survey(1)

Moreover, almost two thirds of the sample said they either did not know, or had no priorities, for its use.

"The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has now agreed that UK companies can report in XBRL, rather than presenting financial information as a block of text, and is itself using XBRL to collect firms' regulatory returns. Globally, financial organisations are looking to make XBRL a mandatory standard of reporting. However, despite the fact that the language is becoming standard, there is still a massive lack of awareness amongst the finance community of XBRL's capabilities and its importance," said John Taylor, Director of Industry Solutions, Cartesis.

"XBRL can play a crucial role in solving current global financial and compliance issues for businesses. Globally, thousands of companies are releasing financial results internally and externally, yet more often then not content is not organised, much of the data has to be re-keyed and there is no easy way to compare reports internally. Crucially external comparison, benchmarking and understanding is also missed leaving stakeholders including analysts wrestling with figures."

"XBRL bridges the gap between systems, accounting systems and global reporting, and is therefore an essential part of making IFRS data, for example, more accessible," Taylor continued.

XBRL is one of a family of "XML" languages and is becoming a standard means of communicating information between businesses and regulators on the internet. The reporting language is being developed by an international non-profit consortium of approximately 250 major companies, organisations and government agencies world-wide.

"With the increasing demands of regulations and compliance, and the pressure to be more visible to stakeholders, it is really concerning that so many UK FTSE companies are not yet using XBRL. More education on the technology is clearly required. The language is designed to streamline processes, and improve transparency and financial communication. Therefore those companies that are adopting it will have a clear competitive advantage and stand tall against the rest," concluded Taylor.

For more information on the new technology, you can download Cartesis' white paper entitled UK BPM Survey by visiting www.cartesis.com.

More information can also be found at www.xbrl.org/home

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Cartesis

Cartesis is a global software vendor that provides trusted solutions for driving your company's financial and business performance. Cartesis equips its customers with the control and insight they need to assess and react in today's rapidly changing marketplace. One in five Fortune Global 100 companies rely on Cartesis' powerful technology to unify complex information, people and processes in a single data model that can be applied easily and consistently across multiple geographies and business segments. Cartesis' customers success depends on having meaningful insight to act upon, because great performances start with confidence.

Headquartered in Paris, Cartesis has offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Norwalk (CT), Tokyo and Utrecht. The company has more than 1300 corporate customers and partners worldwide in 25 countries around the globe.

For more information, please visit www.cartesis.com or call 0870 240 1166.

All cited names and/or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

(1) Survey undertaken by FT Research Centre