High-tech exec.

You've been to the software industry trade shows. You've read the articles and case studies counseling the importance of implementing powerful information systems. Perhaps the siren call of software marketers and consultants still rings softly in your ears: "The brave new world of Enterprise

But rather than tell you what you ought to be doing, Strategic Finance decided to do something different: We went straight to the source and asked three CFOs from companies in different industries what finance and accounting tools they use on a daily basis. Where, we wanted to know, did the rubber hit the road? What are the applications CFOs use to run their businesses? And what are the underlying business needs those applications address? We also spoke with some software evaluation experts to help put the responses in context.

The answers may surprise you.

STILL MEAT-AND-POTATOES

To a name, all the CFOs with whom we spoke said they depend on the traditional accounting applications to run their business. Nothing fancy - just accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, and maybe a tax or credit application. "On any given day, I need to know where we are in terms of revenues and expenses," said Len Bluhm, CFO of NRG Energy, the nation's 11th largest independent power producer and a subsidiary of Northern States Power Company. As of January 1, 1999, NRG went live with a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution by JD Edwards. Due to NRG's rapid growth - the company has tripled in size in the past 12 months - simply keeping up with basic accounting and reporting functions is challenge enough. "We are using some project planning segments" Bluhm conceded, "but they are contained in functional applications - general ledger for the most part."

Nick Kypreos, senior VP of finance at TTI, Inc., a mid-sized distributor of passive electronic components based in Ft. Worth, shared a similar experience. Three years ago, TTI purchased a new system from QSP that had general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and a tax and credit package. But despite the system's capacity, the company has only implemented the general ledger function. "General ledger was a biggie," Kypreos said of his implementation priorities, "because we spend so much time with general ledger preparing financials." The company hopes to automate the thousands of journal entries needed to produce financial statements. "We're at square one, trying to get accounting and finance departments to the point we're automated" Kypreos said. TTI plans to go live in October and add applications as users acclimate to the new system.