News and Events

Media Coverage

1/30/08

Finalizing Revenue Numbers on Time
"Less than half of public companies are able to manage revenue reporting within their normal monthly close process, according to a survey from RevenueRecognition .com in conjunction with IDC. The survey also found that revenue recognition is among the top three ongoing control risks for finance departments. Contract management was ranked number one and using spreadsheets was number two."

"The survey concludes that revenue reporting processes are not baked into the financial systems infrastructure…The potential exposure of weaknesses in revenue recognition processes is a key reason to make automation a priority for finance organizations."

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10/2/07

Check Out This Game About Revenue Recognition
SoftwareCEO.com recommends all software execs take 10 minutes to check out The Revenue Recognition Challenge game, for four reasons.

1. A great example of an effective interactive tool
2. A reality check on pressuring your finance team
3. An excellent engagement strategy
4. An ROI in two months. Yes, two months

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9/27/07

RevenueRecognition.com Survey Finds Majority of Public Companies Unable to Finalize Revenue Numbers on Time
A recent survey by RevenueRecognition.com and IDC of senior financial executives from 578 companies, found that fewer than half are able to manage revenue reporting within their normal monthly close process. Delays of up to three weeks are caused by two factors: transactions are becoming more complex and revenue accounting data is not available in time.
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August 2007

Game On
Enron and WorldCom may have given accounting games a bad rap, but “The Revenue Recognition Challenge,” a free online game from Softrax Corp., puts a new spin on things. Thousands of CFOs and other corporate finance professionals have tried to best their peers in this educational and thought-provoking challenge about revenue recognition. See if you can pass muster with the auditors at “Schmarbanes-Schmoxely” and make the fireworks fly for your investors.
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July 2007

Adding Compliance Solutions to Your ERP Systems
Companies invest a lot time and money in Enterprise Resource Planning software, but those systems still don’t necessarily fulfill all of a company’s financial reporting requirements. "More than 200 accounting rules deal with revenue recognition," says Gottfried Sehringer, vice president of marketing at Softrax Corporation. "A lot of companies are struggling with those rules and how to apply them accurately and consistently across their business." Softrax recently introduced a financial application that runs in parallel with an ERP system, tracking revenue recognition in detail and providing auditors with the backup information needed to approve the final revenue figure. “It’s an eye-opener to people that there is an alternative,” Sehringer says.
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6/11/07

Six Degrees: Advancing Arms for the Fraud Wars
Frank Hydoski, director of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, states that the vast proportion of SEC enforcement letters focus on fraud related to revenue. Quoting a RevenueRecognition.com study (sponsored by Softrax), Hydoski observed:
"… most of the CFOs, the vast majority, said that they develop the revenue numbers offline, outside their ERP system, using spreadsheets and so forth.” And this means a loss of control over the numbers, he noted.
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5/9/07

Lowering Your Revenue Restatement Risk
Companies need to take an entirely new approach towards managing their revenue recognition processes not only to lower their restatement risk, but also to improve the financial close process, speed up revenue recognition reporting, enhance revenue recognition forecasting, and allow strategic insights into their revenue streams. This article examines key steps to turn your revenue policy into an automated, workflow-driven integrated process.
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10/01/06

Manual Processes Result in Revenue Risk
Ineffective revenue recognition processes are increasing the risk of compliance failures and financial restatements, according to a recent survey by International Data Corp. (IDC), a global research firm in Framingham, Mass., and RevenueRecognition.com, a Web site that provides educational resources for financial executives. Organizations are having a hard time establishing internal controls for revenue reporting and recognition activities such as: applying revenue allocation rules, redistributing revenue, reviewing sales orders to identify deferred items, and creating accounting entries, the survey notes. (This article is available by subscription only at: www.theiia.org)

8/18/06

Check Your Billing
Softrax has released an interactive tool to help companies determine if their financial systems can handle highly-complex billing. The Billing Edition of their Financial Compliance Checklist produces a profile with a specific billing score and a set of recommended next steps.
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8/17/06

Do Spreadsheets Lead to Compliance Failures?
A full 92% of all US public companies use spreadsheets for critical accounting activities in their revenue reporting processes, according to a recent survey of financial executives. And that increases the likelihood of compliance failures and financial restatements. The research, which involved 685 companies, was conducted by www.RevenueRecognition.com and IDC and sponsored by Softrax Corp.
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7/1/06

Making Sense of Revenue Recognition
Revenue “mis-recognition” is the leading cause of financial restatements, and the rate of restatements has been soaring. In 2005, there were 1,295 restatements — one for every 12 public companies registered in the U.S. That’s almost twice the 2004 number and three times the number in 2002. In fact, from 1997 to 2005, an estimated 30 percent of U.S. public companies filed restatements. A big part of the problem is the myriad of standards — a complicated and unclear mishmash of over 200 pronouncements pertaining to revenue recognition. Softrax vice president of marketing, Gottfried Sehringer, is quoted.
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6/23/06

Saving Expense Through SOA Rollouts
SOA, or service-oriented architecture, is one of the hottest buzzwords in IT today, and it's been gaining traction steadily. It's an integration framework that helps applications talk to each other, it simplifies integration of disparate systems, and it saves (or even eliminates) a lot of programming time and costs. The Softrax SOA adds even more power with an enterprise integration layer called business process execution language (BPEL) that drives applications with business rules created and managed by non-programmers.
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5/8/06

Selling Finance
Revenue recognition is a top concern for finance executives, according to a survey of 400 financial executives conducted by RevenueRecognition.com and IDC (sponsored by Softrax), especially when it comes to structuring deals. Educating the sales force about when to bring in the revenue recognition specialists is critical to getting the enterprise revenue management process started off right. But with almost 200 different approaches to revenue recognition, the job requires careful planning and persistence.
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4/24/06

PureSafety Selects Softrax to Automate Complex Revenue Management Processes
Delivering products and services on the Internet as well as on-site, can create accounting challenges that can go beyond the functionality of generic solutions. PureSafety found it was using numerous spreadsheets to pull critical financial information together. "Being able to manage our time entry, billing, and revenue recognition in Softrax without any extra effort is a big improvement," said Todd Kinnane, Vice President of Finance and Controller at PureSafety.
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3/30/06

Paper Examines Revenue Recognition
EITF 00-21 is a revenue recognition guidance from the FASB on multi-element contracts—those that include multiple products and services. This white paper presents advice and commentary from Dr. Ashwinpaul (Tony) C. Sondhi, a member of FASB's Emerging Issues Task Force, on the impact of EITF 00-21. It is published by www.RevenueRecognition.com, a site co-sponsored by Softrax and CFO.com.
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2/4/06

Sarbanes-Oxley and Business Model Innovation: Part 3
Managing revenue reporting compliance in the face of increasingly complex business models is a tremendous challenge for financial professionals. Revenue policies must be established and enforced for each business model throughout the enterprise. The third in this three-part series of articles by Softrax President and CEO, Robert O’Connor, examines key revenue management and reporting requirements for licensing, subscription, and utility models.
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1/28/06

Sarbanes-Oxley and Business Model Innovation Part 2
Sarbox compliance is a tremendous challenge because it requires companies to document and certify all the business processes and internal controls associated with their financial reporting. The task is made all the more daunting by the fact that it has come into effect at a time when many companies are adopting innovative business models that introduce brand new revenue and reporting streams. The second in this three-part series of articles by Softrax President and CEO, Robert O’Connor, examines key revenue management and reporting requirements for services and support models.
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12/27/05

For The Right Price…
Robert O’Connor, President and CEO of Softrax, discusses the impact of selling software as a service (SaaS) on finance operations. SaaS requires that executives use new financial metrics to truly understand how well their SaaS initiatives are performing.
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11/18/05

Revenue Recognition Policies Under Scrutiny
One of the primary goals of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Sarbox) is to ensure that companies are reporting accurate revenue numbers. Consequently, revenue recognition policies have been under particular scrutiny. A new survey of 400 public and private companies by www.RevenueRecognition.com, a site co-sponsored by Softrax and CFO.com found the top three ongoing control risk or remediation challenges are “workflow and approval process,” “eliminating spreadsheets,” and “revenue recognition.”
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11/10/05

The Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on Revenue Recognition Practices Part 1
Revenue recognition has become a “hot spot” for auditors and investors. It is simultaneously coming under greater scrutiny and becoming more complex. Guidelines and regulations are under constant review, and many industries are adopting new business models involving wide ranging customer relationships with long-term financial implications. In the first of a three-part series, Robert O’Connor, President and CEO of Softrax, explains why revenue recognition is a critical part of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
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11/10/05

Survey: SOX Shaping Revenue Recognition Policies
More than half of public and private companies participating report that they have changed their revenue recognition policies as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley. A poll conducted by www.RevenueRecognition.com, a site co-sponsored by Softrax and CFO.com, found that 55 percent of 400 SEC and private issuers have changed policies on revenue recognition, with the changes ranging from "moderate to significant." The survey also found that companies' compliance processes are in need of additional investment, with revenue recognition among the top three control concerns.
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9/11/05

Finance-centered strategies
ZDNet blogger offers comments on how SaaS is changing the way software companies are managed. Vendors that roll out service-based business models need much more sophisticated finance capabilities, especially when it comes to billing, revenue recognition, and management reporting. Robert O’Connor, Softrax President and CEO is quoted.
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9/2/05

The Secret to Saas Success
In this article, Robert O’Connor, President and CEO of Softrax writes about the impact of software as a service (SaaS). SaaS models smooth out the revenue curve for vendors, but the transition can be tough. The most important operational issues by far occur in the finance department. Billing, renewals, cash flow, and revenue management practices must change dramatically from the traditional product licensing days in order to ensure success.
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