7th January 2008, Monetical Limited, Cambridge, is the provider of a management consultancy service enabling self evaluation and performance optimisation of software engineering, delivery and support activities. Today Monetical announces that it has signed an exclusive agreement with financial expert Michael Blackstaff FCA MBCS CITP, who is a chartered accountant and member of the British Computer Society.

Michael’s involvement in the definition of the Monetical Financial Audit Module has helped to make it the most focused tool available today for enabling software and IT organisations to self-evaluate their own performance against best practices. This is critical because for most organisations, the objective of investment in information technology (IT) or the engineering of new software solutions is to improve their performance, and that usually means their financial performance.

However, most people called upon to make decisions about IT or build business cases for significant investment in software engineering belong in one of two categories: In the first category are those who know a lot about IT or engineering of new software solutions, but little or nothing about finance. In the second category are those who know a lot about finance but rather less about IT. In their Financial Audit Module Monetical helps organisations bridge the knowledge gap between these two sets of people.

Monetical's Founder, John E. Abram commented, ‘we are delighted to be able to provide our clients with the ability to evaluate their own capability in this important field’. Adding, ‘our Financial Audit Module, incorporating Michael's expertise, provides our clients with the necessary means to evaluate their IT financial management capability and to identify critical challenges. This ability is becoming increasingly important as more non-financially trained individuals take on important IT financial responsibility.'

Michael commented ’I have been pleased to work with Monetical on defining their Financial Audit Module, which I believe to be unique. I am sure that it will make a significant contribution to helping organisations make more businesslike decisions about IT and software engineering investment.”

Based in Cambridge UK, Monetical Limited is the provider of a management consultancy service backed by a network of leading subject matter experts to address the increased complexity of software and IT project engineering, delivery and support activities. Its unique expertise and analytical capabilities empower software and IT organisations to optimise their performance in an increasingly complex business environment. Monetical helps small and medium-sized businesses to gain cost-effective access to a wealth of industry expertise by providing tools which enable them to compare their own operational and commercial performance against best practice. For a comprehensive description about Monetical and its solutions, visit www.monetical.com or write to info@monetical.com .

Michael Blackstaff is a chartered accountant, a member of the British Computer Society and a chartered IT professional. He has over thirty years of finance, marketing and training experience in the IT industry and customers in many industries. For nine years he was a financial marketing specialist with IBM United Kingdom Ltd, developing business cases for complex projects, selling leasing, teaching salespeople the finance of selling and advising customers on financing and accounting for IT. His most recent book is “Finance for IT decision makers, 2nd edition” published by the British Computer Society in 2006. For more information about Michael, visit www.financial-trainer.com.