For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Robert Minicucci, Warner Communications, 603-488-5856, robert@warnerpr.com

Confluence Whitepaper Helps Fund Administrators
Tackle FAS 157 Reporting Requirements

New Paper Provides “Readiness Plan” for the Back Office

(Pittsburgh, PA – January 9, 2008) Confluence, the global investment management industry’s leading provider of automated data management solutions, is offering a whitepaper that provides fund administrators with a “technology readiness plan” for new reporting mandates outlined in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued statement 157 (FAS 157).

FAS 157 defines new requirements for establishing the “fair values” of financial instruments, including mutual funds, hedge funds, and other investment products. It also requires that funds disclose valuation methods. The rule is now in effect for annual reporting periods that began after November 15, 2007.

“In order to comply with FAS 157, both accounting and administration must update their reporting processes,” said Kirk Botula, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Confluence. “Fully automated systems that draw from a centralized database eliminate time-consuming, manual procedures required to collect and cleanse data and remove the risk of human error.”

Companies’ fair value committees and their auditing firms need to ensure that they have the proper data to support the valuation levels that FAS 157 mandates. Investment management companies must now lay out their valuation practices, assign a valuation standard (Level One, Two, or Three) to each holding, and produce two schedules summarizing their funds’ exposures and activity. These schedules will be required in both quarterly holdings reporting (for registered funds) and within annual and semi-annual reports.

“FAS 157 challenges fund administrators to establish a reporting framework capable of identifying, monitoring, and ultimately reporting the universe of investments at each valuation tier,” said Mike Kerrigan, Principal at the Beacon Consulting Group. “To be truly effective, this framework must enable security information to flow from the valuation committee to the shareholder disclosures in the most efficient manner possible. This Administrator’s Guide to FAS 157 is a good resource for those seeking to understand the many facets of this requirement.”

The Confluence whitepaper provides an overview of the new rule, its impact across the organization, and the specific implications to administrators as well as their fair value committees. It also discusses how automation can help fund administrators move forward and comply with FAS 157. Through automation, fund administrators mitigate the inherent risks of reporting errors associated with manual processes and spreadsheets (still the method of choice at many companies), elevate service levels, and achieve scalability and efficiencies. As a result, automated reporting has emerged as the new standard for fund administrators.

To obtain a free copy of Reporting Fair Market Value: An Administrator’s Guide to FAS 157 please visit http://www.confluence.com/FAS157ReadinessPlan.

About Confluence

Founded in 1991, Confluence is the global investment management industry’s leading provider of automated data management solutions. Confluence helps investment management companies gain unprecedented control by automating every step of the fund administration process—including the collection, creation, confirmation, and delivery of investment product data while maintaining control of the process. Results are lower costs, reduced risk, decreased reporting turnaround times, and the scalability to automate more processes without additional resources. Confluence’s solutions are used by 40 percent of the leading global investment managers, and more than 60 percent of U.S. mutual funds. Unity™, the Confluence platform, addresses a wide range of problems from performance measurement to customized reporting for a full array of domestic and international managed investment products, including mutual funds, funds of funds, collective funds, separate accounts, and variable products, as well as hedge funds and other alternative investments. Major fund companies such as Evergreen and Merrill Lynch and service providers like JPMorgan, PFPC and Bank of New York rely on Confluence. Confluence, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, serves the international fund industry with key locations in London and Luxembourg. For more information, visit www.confluence.com or e-mail info@confluence.com.

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