You may not need to make your first operating and financial review available until at least January 2007, but the clock is ticking. 'You can't produce your OFR two weeks before the year end, or it won't be balanced and complete,' warns Gary Simon, research director at FSN, and author of The Systems and Process Implications of the OFR; it's going to be an ongoing process.

So far, the debate has concentrated on directors' liability, but compliance will also require some work on the systems side. 'It's not a software problem,' says Simon, 'but a lot of organisations will struggle to get the necessary information from their systems.' Companies must identify the information they will need to support their disclosure of strategy and key performance indicators, and consider new areas such as environmental issues; then look at their current systems to see if they are consistent and robust enough to supply it (see Accountancy, July, p91).

For further details visit www.fsn.co.uk.