Accounting system packages available in a variety of platforms allow insurers to keep essential financial data in one place and to retrieve and work with it in many ways.
Executives can ask questions that drill deep into the data, produce made-to-order reports and generally retrieve the exact information needed for financial statements, presentations and sales analyses.
While some systems are designed for very specific applications, most systems, however, have enterprisewide applications. Among available systems are the following:
o Wings, from Eagle Technology Management, Marion, Iowa, is a financial reporting platform. Using an insurance company's financial database, the program produces forms for a variety of uses, from formal financial reporting and compliance statements to tax returns.
Once deployed, Wings can be accessed from any computer or location that corporate security policy permits, says vice president Layton Olson. It automates the collection, preparation and delivery of statutory accounting statements, state-required compliance forms and tax returns.
Data is provided primarily by company accounting and taxation functions, with contributions from such units as actuaries, investment management and reinsurance, the company notes.
Wings is a Web-based package that uses a Microsoft. NET framework, says Eagle.
Training is relatively fast, because the program mimics Microsoft Office, specifically Outlook and Excel. "The vast majority of users self-train," says Olson, who adds that because it is a server-based application, it can be installed in 45 minutes.
Pricing starts as low as $650 but goes up based on such factors as the number of modules purchased and statement type produced, number of filing entities a carrier has, and the number of states in which the carrier writes business.
Further information and online tutorials can be found at .
o Fiserv Financial Solutions, a product of Fiserv Insurance Solutions Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is designed to serve insurance carriers' needs for accounting, general ledger, accounts payable and financial statement writing, along with such tasks as check disbursement, the company says.
The product allows executives to review financial statements on their desktops and see where the numbers are coming from, says Fiserv spokesman Darren Graves.
The Windows-based program comes in two versions: PRO, for larger carriers, can take three to six months to install, and PTE, for smaller companies, takes one to four months to be up and running, Graves says. Training, done on site by Fiserv consultants, can take from eight to 25 days.
Costs for the program range widely, depending on number of users and locations and other requirements, but typical prices range from $20,000 to $200,000, the company says.
Further information can be found at .
