Gartner Consulting Says Finance and Accounting BPO is a Key Enabler for Increasing a CFO's Efficiency

Consultant to Outline How CFOs Can Leverage BPO to be More Strategic During the Gartner Outsourcing Summit, April 4-6 in Los Angeles, CA

STAMFORD, CONN. March 30, 2005 — Chief financial officers (CFOs) should implement finance and accounting business process outsourcing (BPO) to allow them to spend more time on strategic activities, according to Gartner Consulting, a unit of Gartner, Inc.

Gartner Consulting recommends that CFOs consider delegating transactional tasks to a third party whose core business is finance and accounting BPO.

"Outsourcing some of the finance and accounting processes that are focused on tasks such as accounts payables, expense management, and payroll, frees up the CFO's time," said Michael Montonen, vice president for Gartner Consulting's Strategic Sourcing Practice. "The CFO can then focus more on activities such as planning, activity-based costing, process metrics and decision support at the CEO and business unit leadership levels."

Gartner defines BPO as the delegation of one or more IT-intensive business processes to an external provider that, in turn, owns, administers and manages the processes based on defined and measurable performance metrics. BPO has many markets. They typically include staff functions such as human resources, finance and accounting, and contact centers or vertical specialization such as insurance claims processing or banking payments.

"To achieve true shareholder value, the efficient CFO has to focus on decision support, a strategic activity that makes it possible to focus on analyzing and interpreting financial data, not necessarily producing it," Mr. Montonen said. Outsourcing capabilities to support processes for financial transactions and management have matured substantially, with financial data often generated and reported now by service providers, he said.

Finance and accounting BPO can also be used towards Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, but Gartner Consulting warns there are several risk and performance management considerations to take into account.

For compliance management, the process can be outsourced, however the responsibility is not. "Companies must remember that the penalties in cases of non-compliance go to the service recipient, not the service provider," Mr. Montonen said. "The key is ensuring that the service provider has the right Sarbanes-Oxley compliance measures in place."

Regarding contract management, the contract with the service provider must specify the details of who is responsible for what items relating to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Gartner Consulting recommends a roles-and-responsibilities matrix dedicated to this.

Mr. Montonen will provide additional analysis on the finance and accounting BPO industry at the Gartner Outsourcing Summit 2005, to be held April 4-6 2005, at the Westin Century Plaza Hotel. Gartner Outsourcing Summit 2005, Gartner's eighth annual event for buyers of IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) services, is the most comprehensive program of its kind. With this year's theme, "Practical Outsourcing: Managing the Choices, Risks and Rewards," more than 30 Gartner analysts and consultants will provide actionable advice that attendees can implement. In addition, more than 15 of the 60-plus content sessions will feature case studies and panel discussions presented by end-users and industry professionals. Approximately 50 of the world's leading services and solutions providers will also participate in the conference showcase and technology-provider case-study panels.

For complete event details, please visit the Gartner Outsourcing Summit Web site at www.gartner.com/us/itsourcing. Members of the media can register by contacting Wanda Whitson at 203-316-3272 or e-mail at wanda.whitson@gartner.com.

About Gartner Consulting
Gartner Consulting's Strategic Sourcing practice helps companies build and manage successful sourcing partnerships by leveraging its proprietary research, vendor intelligence, process management knowledge, and its IT benchmarking database. Gartner's consultants will help companies assess, install and monitor a single or multisourced environment, and help them overcome the challenge of managing providers, while responding to their ever-changing business needs and goals. Additional information is available on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com/3_consulting_services/sourcing/ss_home.jsp.

<b>Contact:</b><br> Wanda Whitson<br> Gartner<br> (408) 468-8312<br> <a href="mailto:wanda.whitson@gartner.com" class="ThinBlueLink">wanda.whitson@gartner.com</a>


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.