Flaws, flaws and more flaws

Corporate treasurers are frustrated. They say software vendors aren’t creating the tools they need to cope with FAS 133. But at the same time, the vendors claim companies are not sophisticated enough to use the tools currently available. Naomi Humphries reports

Software tools designed to help companies cope with the advent of the US Financial Accounting Standards Board’s release 133, which imposes strict rules on accounting for derivatives, have proved a disappointment to both end-users and to the software companies that developed them. Corporate treasurers complain that the tools don’t offer the functionality they need, and baulk at the cost. Meanwhile, the software companies moan that FAS 133 is constantly being modified, and companies are too tight