BCS Integrity could improve balance sheet subtantiation

Management consultancy software and services firm Business Control Solutions today launched a new product designed to give firms greater control over their accounts, improving transparency and decision-making.

The firm worked with a tier-one bank to produce BCS Integrity, a software solution which helps to highlight inefficiencies and mistakes in the reporting process to the appropriate managers, according to BCS product manager Mike Bush.

"A global investment bank could have millions of accounts and each account with hundreds of thousands of line items so reconciliation is a big process," he explained. "Integrity takes a list of those accounts and ensures that they are all assigned to someone."

Senior managers can then view from a dashboard how many accounts have been substantiated, how many are unaccounted for and how many represent a material impact to the business, said Bush. "They can then make a judgment call on whether to sign these off or push back – this level of transparency is important because regulations like SOX hold some individuals personally liable," he added.

Integrity is also customisable to individual geographical regions and is web-based, meaning no distribution costs, according to Bush.