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House of Fraser
Civil Aviation Authority
London Regional
Transport
London
Borough of Lambeth
BUPA
Lend
Lease UK
Exel
Trustees Ltd
Schlumberger
Safeway
‘OpenAIR Accounts is
a vast improvement from our previous time-consuming
manner of producing accounts through struggling with spreadsheets.
OpenAIR Accounts was the obvious solution to meet our scheme’s
specific pensions accounts needs from control over payments to multiple
users’ access. The application has proven to be a valuable resource
for both the scheme’s accounting and the board of trustees’
Kathryn
Foster, Head of Compensation & Benefits
House
of Fraser
'This
is the first time in 25 years that a computer system has been able to
produce SORP reports with the
correct figures that do not require any subsequent manual changes'.
John Andrews,
Accounts Manager
Civil Aviation Authority
'The London Regional
Transport Pension Fund is a long-time user of Euraplan's Treasurer and
Shareholder software and is in the process of upgrading to OpenAIR
Accounts and OpenAIR Investments.
The
fund values the straight forward approach to fund accounting adopted by
Euraplan and the ability to generate SORP compliant accounts directly
from the system is particularly valuable and may indeed be unique.
Also
of great importance to us is the ability to monitor investments in-house
and reconcile our data to our investment managers and our global
custodians thus providing an audible triangulation of control all tied
back to the underlying accounting records.
The
software is now enabling us to monitor and thus control transaction
costs at a manager/broker and foreign exchange deal level.
We
have considered standard accounting software but found OpenAIR Accounts
offered a more wide ranging, more effective and cheaper solution, which
avoided the need for scheme-specific tailoring.'
Chris
Angell,
Fund Secretary
London Regional
Transport Pension Fund
'We
are very pleased to have
installed OpenAIR Accounts and it has proved to be an enormously
important resource for us. In making the decision to go with OpenAIR
Accounts, we were looking to harmonise our separate pensions systems, minimise the administration of entering data and producing
accounts; and at the same time enjoy better quality reports.
OpenAIR Accounts met and fulfilled our expectations.
In measuring the cost of OpenAIR Accounts, we came to the conclusion
that the return on our initial investment has been and continues to be
highly favourable.
Another big plus point for us is the great
advantage that OpenAIR Accounts automatically links into our investment
program Shareholder. This allows us to pass market valuations straight
into our financial accounts. Valuable time saved means that we are able
to deal with other procedural issues.’
Harry
Musisi,
Treasury Manager
London Borough of Lambeth
'We
chose the OpenAIR software to achieve a range of business critical
success factors for the pensions department.
Other
reasons why this product was selected over other options include:
The best functional
fit - 97% of business requirements
Strategic fit with
BUPA's existing hardware and
architecture.
Cost and time
reductions for external audits
Euraplan does the
set-up of the account structure prior
implementation on site, hence the system can be
used
from day one.
For
instance, since its implementation in 2001, the OpenAIR system has
enabled us to have one pensions accounting system in use which satisfies
the external auditors and the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority
(Opas).
Also,
we have been able to reduce the cost of the external audit for 2001
compared to 2000, by reducing the length of time required to conduct the
audit and by not exceeding the expected costs.'
Steve
Dalton,
IS Project Manager
BUPA
'We
chose Euraplan's OpenAIR accounting system in 1999 because it was, so
far as we were the only system dedicated to pension scheme
accounts.
Some
of the main benefits we have obtained from the system include a ledger
that has been designed to produce accounts conforming to pensions scheme
legislation, particularly the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)
and user friendly reporting; including all SORP notes, trail balance and
bank reconciliation.
We
would have no hesitation in recommending Euraplan and the OpenAIR
accounting system to other pension funds.'
Robin
Roads, Pensions
Accountant
Lend
Lease UK Pension Scheme
'Starting a new
scheme from scratch, I identified what I wanted from an accounting
system, in particular simplicity and flexible management
reporting.
With the help of KPMG, a
specification was drawn up and the OpenAIR system chose itself'
Malcolm
Delahaye, Pensions Manager
Lend
Lease UK Pension Scheme
'OpenAIR
Accounts has provided Exel plc with the modern technology needed in
managing the accounting function of a £2 billion pension fund.
Its
flexibility, ease of use and functionality is far beyond the reach of
other accounting systems.
OpenAIR
Accounts will also assist the Exel Pensions Department in improving
the service to the pension scheme members, through the ability to
integrate it with the Department's other systems.'
Jimmy
Walker, Pensions
Manager
Exel Trustees Ltd
'We
like the administrative flexibility of OpenAIR Accounts.
It gives us great facility for day-to-day accounting and for
producing our final, audited accounts.'
Darren
Prosser, Pensions Analyst
Schlumberger
'When it came to looking
for an accounting system for the Safeway pension scheme, I wanted a
supplier that understood my problems, that is they understood the
world of pensions. I wanted a system that was specifically geared to
pensions.
In a world where
complexity was endemic, I wanted the peace of mind knowing that my
accounting package was designed by pension experts for pension
specialists. To my knowledge Euraplan was the only supplier that met
this criteria.'
Peter Baker, formerly
Pensions Manager
Safeway Pension Scheme
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