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r microricne TOUGH NEW KID ON THE DATA BLOCK M-I-C-R-O-F-I-C-H-E. Microfiche. Quite a word. On the first hearing it might evoke an image of sub-miniature French guppies cavorting in biological research tanks, but in reality microfiche is the name of an exciting new data gathering system now in use in the research department of the Executive Office. Specifically, this new communications aid is intended to give practice offices much broader coverage of the financial activities of corporations as revealed in annual reports and similar filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This aid is one of the latest developments in microphotography, the technique of photographing and reproducing documents at a fraction of their original size. It permits relatively easy retrieval of information from a much greater range of source materials than the research department had been able to accumulate in the past. And the information, of course, is in space-saving, scaled-down form. It is much smaller, in fact, than the older microfilm methods of storing records on 35mm reels or code-indexed cards holding only a single frame of film. Microfiche (fiche means page in French) is a means of transposing a multi-page document—such as an annual report to shareholders—onto one small strip of film. The microfiche itself is a four-by-six inch sheet of acetate that can hold the negative images of up to sixty pages of printed material-twelve images across and up to five rows deep on the sheet. For ready identification, the microfiches are neatly index tabbed, with the name of the particular corporation and the type of report printed clearly against a background that is color keyed as follows: orange—annual report to shareholders; green—final prospectus; red—registration statement; white—Form 10K. Principal Wally Wilson, working with partners Cy Youngdahl and Jack Crawford, was responsible for the research that resulted in the Firm's decision to adopt the microfiche system. As Wally puts it, "With microfiche, we've got the potential capability for greatly improved information services for clients who turn to the Firm for insight into new or unusual corporate accounting practices." H&S offices often call on the Executive Office research department for information on current accounting practices of corporations in the same industry as their clients. It is then the research department's job to sift through annual reports or other SEC filings to screen out such things as, to cite a typical example, how plastics companies amortize research costs. Previously research department staffers had to hunt for such information by going through a vast amount of cumbersome printed material stashed away in long rows of file cabinets. And in spite of the huge amount of space needed to store the source materials, there was still a relatively limited range of material on publicly owned companies available to the research department's files. This picture began to change dramatically when the Firm subscribed to a corporate microfiche service offered by Leasco Data Processing Equipment Corporation. Leasco,through an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, photographs all SEC filings, prints them in microfiche form, indexes and distributes them. Through Leasco, our Firm now has access to detailed information on as many as 8,000 corporations. In addition to annual reports, Leasco furnishes the Firm with final prospectuses, registration statements and copies of Form 10K for every company that is registered with the SEC. As a result, the research department can now provide the practice offices with a much broader compilation of information than was possible before. To see how it all comes about, let's look at the previously cited example— the query for information on how plastics manufacturers are amortizing research costs. Unfortunately, Leasco only recently began to code microfiches by industry classification, so the research department's alphabetical fifing system still requires a degree of time-consuming personal selection of microfiches. (Wally Wilson says that automatic selection equipment is now available and can be incorporated into the system at some future date if the work load warrants it.) On a microfiche index supplied by Leasco, a research department staffer will find a list of perhaps eighty plastics manufacturers, by company name. He will then pull out each of the eighty acetate fiches from the file of annual reports—with each containing, page by page, the full annual report for one company — and run them through a reader. The microfiche of the annual report for XYZ Plastics Corporation, for example, is inserted in the machine as if it were a negative being placed below the light of a photo enlarger. An arrow-like indicator is moved to a square on a grid that corresponds to the page containing the desired information and the page is projected onto the back of a vertical, etched-plastic screen. Right now the research department has two such readers—a model manufactured by a client, Micro- Design, Inc., plus a reader-printer that will produce xerographic copies. By pulling data from the annual reports of the eighty key corporations, the research department staff can compile information to be included in one report sent to the inquiring office. It is also possible to make copies of the pertinent pages of an annual report —or, of course, a final prospectus, registration statement or Form 10K—of any 22
Object Description
Title |
Microfiche: Tough new kid on the data block |
Author |
Anonymous |
Subject |
MIcrofiches |
Citation |
H&S Reports, Vol. 08, (1971 summer), p. 22-25 |
Date-Issued | 1971 |
Source | Originally published by: Haskins & Sells |
Rights | Copyright and permission to republish held by: Deloitte; Photographs by Roy Stevens |
Type | Text |
Format | PDF page image with corrected OCR scanned at 400 dpi |
Collection | Deloitte Digital Collection |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Library. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2010 |
Language | eng |
Identifier | HSReports_1971_Summer-p22-25 |