AnswerThink to acquire the Continuous Improvement Center, adding new benchmarking services.

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1997--

Acquisition Uniquely Combines Consultancy, Academia, and Industry

Perspectives for Knowledge Sharing Events

AnswerThink Consulting Group, a newly formed consulting and systems integration company, announced today its agreement in principle to acquire the Continuous Improvement Center (CIC), formerly a part of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). The IMA is an 80,000-member organization of management accountants and financial managers. AnswerThink will now provide benchmarking services, workshops, and software as well as information services via the Internet.

Created by the IMA in 1992, the CIC's benchmarking studies enable member companies to measure their financial organizations against others, providing them with quantitative metrics of costs per process, transaction, and organization. Companies then use study results to identify areas for improvement and become more competitive in the marketplace. Areas measured by the financial benchmarking studies include Control & Risk Management, Decision Support, Finance Management, and Transaction Processing.

"The IMA has established a tremendously credible organization in the CIC," said Ted Fernandez, CEO of AnswerThink. "It is our goal to build on this foundation with comprehensive services that support and enhance this benchmarking capability. We will also expand the service offering on a wider, more global basis to include functional areas, such as Finance, IT, Sales, Marketing, HR, and Purchasing."

"There is an unbelievable thirst for best practice information," explained David Dungan, Leader of AnswerThink's CFO/solutions(SM) practice. "It is very important for companies to understand how other organizations are driving change."

Expansion of the CIC

The IMA's five-year commitment to the CIC included the development of the Global Benchmarking System (GBS)(TM), PC-based software which allows companies to benchmark their accounting and financial processes worldwide. However, the IMA leadership decided to spin-off the CIC to align with IMA's long-term strategic plan. "AnswerThink's implementation capabilities will extend the CIC's reach with its planned offering of a complete package of services including process reengineering and systems integration," stated Julian Freedman, CMA, Senior Director of the IMA.

Rick Roth, AnswerThink's Director of the CIC, explained further, "our depth of experience with benchmarking and best practices, as well as our holistic approach to solving business problems, positions us very well to address key functional issues in Finance, IT, Sales, Marketing, HR, and Purchasing. In addition, we are vastly qualified to launch these services worldwide, especially in the European and Asian markets which have not been targeted by any benchmarking service providers yet."

AnswerThink will also oversee the marketing and distribution of GBS(TM) and plans to explore opportunities with major software package vendors to integrate this technology into the front-end of their application suites.

Bud Kulesza, CMA, CFM, a member of CIC's newly formed Leadership Council, applauded the IMA for having taken the initiative in offering benchmarking services for the past four years. "My company, ITT Automotive, has benefited from our CIC membership by acting upon results from studies performed in the U.S. and Europe," he said. "We look forward to continuing our participation under AnswerThink's auspices."

Trio of Perspectives

Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. has agreed to assist the CIC in conducting workshops across the country by applying their expert knowledge of management accounting to these information sharing events.

The CIC now uniquely integrates three perspectives from consultancy, academia, and industry, combining the functional and technical expertise of AnswerThink consultants, Babson College professors, and the industry professionals from the IMA. "Given AnswerThink's expertise and resources, the service is sure to produce exceptional results for companies needing financial benchmarking, reengineering and improved performance," shared John Shank, Visiting Professor at Babson College and Noble Foundation Professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

C.J. McNair, CMA, a Professor of Management Accounting at Babson College, will be coordinating the symposia and workshops for the CIC. "The financial industry is currently experiencing a shift away from the traditional financial accounting focus to a more decision- and business-oriented approach. With that change in focus comes a demand to formalize this decision support learning process," McNair explained. "With its functional structure and business expertise, AnswerThink is highly qualified to facilitate this redevelopment in our field. The information sharing events which the CIC will be conducting will fulfill a desperate need in our industry right now for on-going access to this valuable decision-support information."

AnswerThink Consulting Group is a consulting and systems integration company focused on improving business results through technology-enabled transformation. AnswerThink currently has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York, Philadelphia and San Jose.

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