QSP Product Line Ensures Businesses Achieve Highest Level Of Euro Compliance as Economic and Monetary Union Conversion Looms.

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 1998--

QSP Financials 4.5.E release draws on company's European roots and fast-track implementation record for the coming changeover to the euro

Drawing on its record of fast deployment and its European roots, QSP Financial Information Systems has released software that enables any company to prepare for the euro, the new currency soon to be shared by the 11-member European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

The release of QSP Financials 4.5.E fully prepares companies for doing business during and after the multi-currency phase-in of the euro beginning January 1, 1999. QSP plans to release the software for mainframe and client/server platforms this month to ensure the suite is fully available on the first day of the multi-currency phase. With QSPin, the company's accelerated implementation package, QSP can install the euro-ready, multi-currency conversion and reporting solution in as little as three months.

QSP has drawn on its European roots and experience to ensure any organization doing business with a member of the European Union is prepared not only for euro-compliance but for the three-year transition period during which multiple currencies are legal tender. QSP Financials 4.5.E is equipped with the functionality needed to handle conversion, triangulation and rounding - the essential operations software must perform in order to handle currency conversions between the national currency units of member states in the European Economic and Monetary Union. The EMU has set strict rules for rounding conversion figures up or down and for accounting fairly for currencies with fractional denominations, such as Belgium's half-franc coin. It has also stipulated guidelines for triangulation, the mathematical formula for converting national denominations to each other (francs to deutsche marks, for example) by converting them first to the euro.

Other new functionality includes an improved Web User Interface (WUI) and the ability to send reports via e-mail from within the accounting package. The e-mail feature eliminates the need to open another package and send the report as an attachment - a reporting function and time-saving tool normally only available in PCs. The improved remote WUI is a highly graphical interface that is much easier to use than the previous version, which was designed as a hybrid between character and graphical interface. Allowing remote access to QSP Financials where geographical or operational infrastructure makes direct access difficult, the new Web interface resembles QSP Financials' GUI.

While many multi-national corporations have financial applications that can handle multi-currency transactions, euro triangulation brings a unique computational problem to those financial systems. Simply reversing a transaction (which is how financial software performs the task today) won't yield an accurate conversion. For example, a German mark may equal a certain amount of francs, but the same number of francs converted back through the euro will give a slightly different number of marks. Euro triangulation also involves a confusing mix of rules, rounding conventions and financial algorithms so that no national currency is disadvantaged by the exchange.

For these reasons, most financial systems that deal with European currency must be rewritten with two separate "home currencies," an accounting issue most U.S. businesses are unprepared for. Most of today's accounting software does not even store financial information with enough decimal places for triangulation, much less the ability to store multiple currencies in their native format.

"QSP Financials 4.5.E extends QSP Financials' already strong multi-currency functionality, to record and report the values of at least three currencies, including the euro, for each transaction," Roy Stoves, QSP president said. "The euro is going to have a major impact on large corporations and on multi-national companies trading directly with European partners, and a significant effect on any business dealing with EU member nations. QSP Financials 4.5.E fully equips companies to remain competitive."

The unavoidable impact of the euro

The Gartner Group estimates the cost of revamping infrastructure and software for the euro at between US$150 billion and $400 billion worldwide, with tens of billions needed to bring U.S. businesses in line. Competitive companies in most of the major commercial nations of Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium, will have strong motivations to demand that they pay or receive payment in the fixed-rate euro at the start of the new year.

Though some analysts predict companies will stall their adoption of the new currency, a number of companies have already announced they intend to begin euro transactions in January. Stoves cited a number of monetary factors that he says will strongly motivate European Union companies to begin using the euro as soon as they can. Companies all over the world, not just in Europe, will be affected, he said.

"Not using the euro will mean higher transaction costs converting payments from currency to currency," Stoves said. "In addition, price transparency - the fact that once a single currency is in use, price differences across national borders will become instantly conspicuous - is going to sharpen competition. Even if they don't convert to the euro right out of the gate, they may find themselves losing ground to competitors a few months out if they're not prepared. QSP Financials 4.5.E allows reporting, invoicing and every other major financial transaction in euros. It will enable them to keep their edge. After 2002, it will be a necessity for doing business just about anywhere in Europe."

The release of QSP Financials 4.5.E attains the highest level of euro compliance under the guidelines established by the Business Accounting Software Developers Association (BASDA), the international trade group that specifies the financial software specifications for EMU.

About QSP

QSP is a leading provider of enterprise-wide financial information solutions. Founded in 1981, the company serves airlines, retail businesses, utilities, financial institutions and governments in 20 countries from offices in the U.S., United Kingdom, Asia and Australia. Some of QSP's customers include America West Airlines, Stop & Shop Supermarkets, Office Depot, Borg-Warner Protective Services, British Airways, the London Stock Exchange and BMW. For more information on QSP, its products and services, visit the company Web site at www.qspinc.com or call 800-326-3435.