ANSR Hackett Grp., Inc.(The) (MM)

A new benchmarking study designed to quantify the total cost of internal controls over financial reporting and compliance has been launched by The Hackett Group, a business process advisory firm and an Answerthink company (NASDAQ:ANSR). The benchmark will be the first of its kind to provide detailed information about the total cost of financial reporting, controls, and compliance related to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbox). It will capture information on process-level activities in more than 14 areas within Finance, HR, Procurement, IT, and Sales, and quantify cost gaps between participants' internal control initiatives. The study will also catalogue the practices that correlate with lower costs, and provide participants with recommendations to help reduce the cost of their internal controls and compliance efforts. To date more than 20 companies have signed up to participate in the pilot study, which launched in April and will deliver initial results in June. Initial participants include: Ameren, Caterpillar, Convergys, Cooper Industries, Corporate Express, Georgia-Pacific, Johns Manville, Kansas City Southern, MedImmune, OGE Energy, Questar, Rockwell Automation, Symbol Technologies, Whirlpool, and Williams. The Hackett Group, a business process advisory firm, is a world leader in best practice research, benchmarking, and transformation advisory services that empower executives to achieve world-class enterprise performance. Hackett offers analysis and insight backed by metrics derived from 3,300 benchmark studies over 13 years at more than 1,865 of the world's leading companies, including 93% of the Dow Jones Industrials. According to Hackett's 2005 Book of Numbers research, increased spending on compliance management partially contributes to the first increase in finance costs, measured as a percent of revenue, since 1992. A typical finance organization has increased compliance management costs by 27% over the past 24 months. At the same time, month-end closing cycles have increased for the first time in recent years. It now takes typical companies 5.5 days to close their books, up from 5.2 days in 2003. "Sarbox compliance costs, although significant, are merely the tip of the iceberg. Even greater opportunities can be realized from understanding and reducing the overall control complexity. This study seeks to identify not only the true compliance management costs but also the underlying controls cost, at a comprehensive level. Our detailed process-level taxonomy and our proven ability to analyze and compare the efficiency and effectiveness of companies' back office operations puts us in a unique position to deliver understanding in this area. This will enable executives to prioritize the areas with the greatest return on their Sarbox investment," said The Hackett Group Chief Research Officer Richard T. Roth. "Sarbox is also changing the ground rules for best practices. Not too long ago, faxing invoices was considered a best practice. Today, the Internet enables electronic bill presentment as a proven technique for distributing invoices. Similarly, this study will begin to uncover the fundamental shift that Sarbox had made on our very definition of a best practice, while capturing the correlating techniques that improve controls and compliance activities at the lowest cost," said Mr. Roth. More information on The Hackett Group's Total Cost of Controls and Compliance study is available: by phone at (770) 225-7300; by e-mail at info@thehackettgroup.com; or on the Web at www.thehackettgroup.com. About The Hackett Group The Hackett Group (www.thehackettgroup.com), a business process advisory firm and an Answerthink company, is a global leader in best practice research, benchmarking and transformation advisory services that empower executives to achieve world-class enterprise performance. Only The Hackett Group empirically defines world-class performance in sales, general and administrative (SG&A) and supply chain activities with analysis gained through 3,300 benchmark studies over 13 years at more than 1,865 of the world's leading companies. The foundation of Hackett's benchmarks, transformation services, and membership-based advisory programs is our proprietary database of Hackett-Certified(SM) Practices, approaches which are proven to correlate with superior performance metrics. This unparalleled knowledge repository enables Hackett business advisors to provide data, advice, and strategic insight with a level of integrity and authority available nowhere else. As of this writing, Hackett clients comprise 93 percent of the Dow Jones Industrials, 76 percent of the Fortune 100 and 90 percent of the Dow Jones Global Titans Index. About Answerthink Answerthink, Inc. (www.answerthink.com) is a strategic business advisory and technology consulting firm that enables companies to achieve world-class business performance. By leveraging the comprehensive database of The Hackett Group, the world's leading repository of enterprise best practice metrics and business process knowledge, Answerthink's business and technology solutions help clients significantly improve performance and maximize returns on technology investments. Answerthink's capabilities include benchmarking, business transformation, business applications, business intelligence, and offshore application development and support. Founded in 1997, Answerthink has offices throughout the United States and in Europe and India. Certain statements in this press release are "forward looking statements'' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include the ability of the Company to attract additional business, changes in expectations regarding the information technology industry, the ability of the Company to attract skilled employees, possible changes in collections of accounts receivable, risks of competition, price and margin trends, changes in general economic conditions and interest rates as well as other risks detailed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.