Q:

Will I need new software for XBRL reporting?

A:

Much is being written about the introduction of XBRL into the regulatory reporting arena, often likening it to another Y2K scale of issue requiring hundreds of consultants, new software solutions and technical expertise. Some vendors claim it is an issue that internal auditors and compliance managers will find difficult to understand.

So should financial institutions be worried about the planned introduction of XBRL by the FSA over the next several years?

STB's customers certainly don't need armies of people, technical experts or expensive new software. STB's core technology is ready and waiting for the introduction of XBRL and customers will receive FREE upgrades of their STB-Reporter solution as and when the FSA commences this new style of reporting (which will be at different times for different types of regulated firm).

Group CEO Michael Thomas states, "There will inevitably be some different information that needs to be mapped and processed from source systems into the XBRL format, as the FSA is only going to introduce XBRL alongside planned changes in the underlying reporting requirement. However, that is what STB is already performing for some 140 regulated firms in the UK alone, so the additional changes can readily be accommodated. As regards the introduction of XBRL itself, customers should have no worries at all."

"STB will provide the structured outputs needed by the regulator as a standard upgrade of our products. We are already an Approved Vendor for provision of data to the regulators and intend to remain just that. Also, we already have experience of implementing XML, which is now required by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, so we know the scale of the task we are looking at, and it really isn't something that is concerning us or our customers."

Q:

What is XBRL?

A:

XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is one of a family of "XML" languages which is becoming a standard means of communicating information between businesses and on the internet. It is an open standard.

The idea behind XBRL is simple, is nothing new and is based on technology that STB Systems has been dealing with since 1996 when the www.W3c.org issued its first draft of the XML specifications (XML itself being based on SGML which has been familiar to STB since 1986). Instead of treating financial information as a block of text - as in a standard internet page or a printed document - it provides an identifying tag for each individual item of data. This is computer readable. For example, "company net profit" has its own unique tag.

The introduction of XBRL tags enables automated processing of business information by computer software, cutting out laborious and costly processes of manual re-entry and comparison.

Computers can treat XBRL data "intelligently": they can recognise the information in a XBRL document, select it, analyse it, store it, exchange it with other computers and present it automatically in a variety of ways for users. XBRL greatly increases the speed of handling of financial data, reduces the chance of error and permits automatic checking of information. XBRL can handle data in different languages and accounting standards. It is already being put to practical use in a number of countries and implementations of XBRL are growing rapidly around the world.

Q:

Why do the Regulators want XBRL ?

A:

By introducing XBRL for reporting, regulators and other authorities can:

• Obtain data which can be entered automatically into systems without rekeying, reformatting or other "translation" effort.
• Dramatically reduce costs by automating routine tasks.
• Quickly and automatically identify problems with filings.
• Analyse and compare data much more quickly, efficiently and reliably.
• Benefit from the use of software in validation and analysis.
• Monitor data and activities and reach judgments with far greater speed and confidence.
• Focus effort on analysis, decision-making and dealing with counterparties rather than on data manipulation.
• Provide a much faster and focused response to counterparties.
• Promote efficiencies and cost savings throughout the regulatory filing process.

For further information on XBRL visit www.xbrl.org

Q:

What are STB's plans for the future?

A:

STB already is established as a leading supplier of focussed and fit-for-the-purpose financial reporting applications. The company is continuing to grow across regions, and across regulatory boundaries. Our product lines are scheduled to continue to widen to include other forms of regulatory, compliance and financial reporting specialisation.

Q:

How long have STB been in business

A:

STB has been in business a long time, since 1984. STB started in the regulatory market in the early nineties, and here many years later STB are market leaders, and continue to show impressive growth. For STB, regulatory and compliance reporting is a strategic business line, it is why we are here. For other vendors, their regulatory business may rarely be noticeable on their business plan and as a client you should query their intention to still be in the regulatory and compliance business in years to come.

Q:

How extensible is an STB installation?

A:

Very! One of the major competitive differences between STB and other applications is that any initial installation can always be extended to include management reporting, more or different regulatory outputs, anti-money laundering, credit risk, exception reporting, head office outputs, reconciliation reports and so on.

Q:

What do you mean by Key Business Indicators, and Continuous Business Audit?

A:

This is the difference between management information, and management decision support. Information is hardly in short supply, whereas STB delivers decision support. By using STB's data management and management reporting tools, you are able to obtain key indicators about your business such as performance relative to target or relative to last month, or to highlight abnormal trading patterns or unexpected trends. Continuous audit is achieved by using STB's tools to perform permanent automated data reconciliation between sources systems and targets, or between transaction processing systems and data warehouses, or between totalised reports and underlying sub reports. This approach means that you don't end up (as you would in the traditional cyclical audit) trying to unravel inaccurate data, or to recast management information that turned out to be wrong.

Q:

But what really makes STB different?

A:

Ease of interfacing to multiple different source systems has always been one of the major aspects of STB's difference, although there are many others.

Q:

What do you really mean by ease of interfacing?

A:

Client data may be presented to STB in any format that is convenient for the client. Any number of database tables, or any number of text files, fixed length or not, with or without fixed record types, with fields in any order, containing any codes, or combination of codes. Whatever you have we can most probably read, which means that you get an easy project, and an easily understood and maintained installation, as it uses your data and presents audit trails and drill-downs in your codes.

Q:

Who are your clients?

A:

There are hundreds across continents to choose from. If you are seeking a specific reference site, please let us know as there will be a happy
customer close to you.

Q:

How much is it?

A:

We'll let you know once we have been able to agree the scope of your requirements. STB's professional consultancy-driven approach means that we'll not just read you a price list. STB's applications are an appropriately priced, affordable solution from a specialist vendor, that will interface from anything, and easily, is extendable for other reporting, covers more bases in one project than you probably thought possible, has a genuine answer yes to all your questions, and has been in this business for a decade. What does price have to do with working with STB?

Q:

What's special about STB's technology?

A:

STB have deliberately abstracted financial processing from our applications, with the result that STB have a unique set of software tools
which can be combined, without writing program code, to deliver a whole range of financial, regulatory, compliance, or head office reporting. Crucially, this means that STB's developers focus on producing functionality whilst our analysts produce products. This means that STB's products are created "by our users for your users".

Q:

So, lots of powerful software features and punchy product functionality - that's it then?

A:

Yes, but that's not all. After installation, because of STB's unique software design, clients are able to manage their installation themselves, with minimal need to call STB nor indeed internal technology staff for support.

Q:

What database can I run?

A:

STB is database independent. You are able to utilise any one - or mixture - of industry-standard databases.

Q:

Is STB approved by regulators?

A:

Indeed, where the central regulatory authority issues approvals then STB get to be on this. For example, STB is recognised by the Bank of England as outputting reporting data according to their required format. We sit on a number of regulatory round table forums with regulators and naturally keep abreast with legislative and regulatory changes.

Q:

Can I come and work for STB?

A:

If you are the right kind of person, with the right aptitude, a service orientation, and all those other good qualities, we'd be happy to hear from you!.