READING, England, October 22 /PRNewswire/ --

- Survey Uncovers Financial Integrity Threatened by Risks of Change

External pressures on businesses from mergers and acquisitions,
organisational change, and regulatory compliance are causing 'fault lines' in
financial processes that are exposing businesses to potential fraud, mistakes
and inefficiencies. According to new research into the financial practices of
300 global organisations, the greater the level of change experienced by
companies, the higher the chances of financial error and risk exposure.

Independent research commissioned by ACL Services across the UK, North
America and Germany surveyed 300 global companies. It found that 52% of the
companies surveyed had either merged, been acquired or undergone a
departmental merger in the past 12 months. Against this backdrop, key
findings included:

- Financial systems undermined by change - 85% of businesses have
undergone some level of change in their financial analysis applications over
the past 12 months and almost half of respondents (47%) believe that their
financial systems have been undermined by operational change within the
business

- Struggling to control errors - One in three businesses are exposed to
regular finance department errors and two thirds are seeking to improve the
effectiveness of financial transaction analysis

- Finding a balance - 40% of respondents agree that finding a balance
between optimal internal controls vs. over controlled systems that can't keep
pace with the business is an ongoing struggle

Commenting on the survey results, Harald Will, President and CEO, ACL
Services, said: "It appears that enterprise financial systems and processes
are buckling under the pressure of constant change. Even seemingly simple
changes to business structures, such as the merger of a department or a move
to a shared services centre, can involve massive financial consolidation and
upheaval. Constant change equals greater risk and businesses need to have
much tighter systems and monitoring in place to manage both."

The potential financial pitfalls brought about by change are already
being felt by businesses. 13% of companies admitted to experiencing financial
loss due to poor risk management, 12% had been asked to improve their
processes by regulators and 5% had already been fined for deficient
compliance controls. Perhaps as a response to this, one in three businesses
stated that their approach to assessing risk had changed in the past 12
months.

Despite 59% of respondents agreeing that continuous auditing and
monitoring of financial transactions across their organisation is an
effective way to mitigate risk and improve accuracy, only 17% of businesses
have continuous controls monitoring technology in place.

Harald Will added: "Small gaps and weaknesses create 'fault lines' that
potentially destabilise an organization's financial systems. And while
businesses agree that continuous auditing is an effective strategy to
mitigate these risks and bridge systems, they are still using ad hoc analysis
in most cases. As they try to cope with the impact of change, they must
invest in early warning systems to continuously monitor the fault lines for
fraud, mistakes and inefficiencies that can cost millions in losses as well
as damage a company's reputation and value."

The ACL survey was undertaken by Loudhouse Research, an independent B2B
research consultancy, in July 2007. The survey methodology involved Computer
Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) with a total of 300 senior finance
professionals from large organisations in the UK, Germany and Unites States.
100 interviews where conducted in each region. Overall, 39% of respondents
had turnovers over GBP500 million, 47% between GBP250 million and GBP500
million and 12% between GBP100-GBP250 million. Sectors covered included
finance, IT/telecoms, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals,
utilities/energy, and business services.

For a full copy of the research findings, please contact Neil Harper at
ACL Services at neil_harper@acl.com

About ACL Services Ltd.

ACL Services Ltd. is the leading global provider of Business Assurance
Analytics to financial executives, compliance professionals, and auditors.
Combining market-leading data analysis software and professional services
expertise, ACL solutions give organizations confidence in the accuracy and
integrity of the transactions and the effectiveness of the internal controls
underlying increasingly complex business operations.

Since 1987, ACL's proven technology has enabled financial decision-makers
to assure controls compliance, reduce risk, detect fraud, minimize losses,
enhance profitability, and achieve fast payback. ACL delivers its solutions
in more than 130 countries through a global network of ACL offices and
channel partners. Our customers include 70 percent of the Fortune 500
companies and over two-thirds of the Global 500, as well as hundreds of
national, state, and local governments, and the Big Four public accounting
firms.

(c) 2007ACL Services Ltd. ACL and the ACL logo are registered trademarks
of ACL Services Ltd. All other company and product names are trademarks of
their respective owners.

For more information, contact:

    Jon Lonsdale / Becky Kiely
    Octopus for ACL
    +44(0)845-3700-655
    acl@octopuscomms.net