CFIT presents at SIM conference.

FEI's Committee on Finance and Information Technology (CFIT) took part in the Society for Information Management (SIM)'s annual conference in Boston in mid-September, and provided content for three breakout sessions. SIM is an association of chief information officers and other technology specialists.

In one breakout, moderated by Peggy Yocher, a CFIT member and Project Management Liaison for Finance/IT at United Technologies Corp., both Microsoft and Citigroup addressed their approach to IT controls, including Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance and next steps in their organizations. Also addressed were automated controls, process improvements implemented or planned for implementation, as well as anticipated costs and improvements planned for 2006.

A breakout session moderated by longtime committee member William Overell covered "XBRL: Transforming Business Reporting," showing how the use of XBRL can provide instant analysis of information without hours of re-keying; the session then went on to walk the audience through the basics and benefits of XBRL. The session wrapped up with a participant's view of the SEC's Voluntary Filing Program. Taylor Hawes, CFIT Chair and Microsoft Corp. controller for Global Platforms and Operations, and Paul Penler, outgoing chair of XBRL-U.S. and a principal at Ernst & Young, took part in the panel.