Press Release

Business Planning Software Available Exclusively For Novell's Quattro Pro Spreadsheet

CEO*Plan Offers Advanced Level of Financial Planning

August 15, 1995

Novell, Inc. today announced the availability of financial and business planning software developed exclusively for Quattro Pro 6.0 for Windows, the award-winning spreadsheet. Created by CEO Software Limited in Toronto, CEO*Plan for Windows is a powerful add-on tool which helps Quattro Pro 6.0 for Windows users easily predict and plan the financial future of businesses of any size.

CEO*Plan offers users the versatility to handle budgets, forecasts and cash flow analyses, as well as the flexibility to support both comprehensive models and simple situations. An advanced version, CEO*Plan Plus, offers all of the benefits of CEO*Plan as well as the ability to do consolidations of companies, divisions, departments and projects, including eliminations and foreign exchange adjustments.

"We learned through many years of user research that accountants, CFOs and CPAs know their businesses and do not need someone else's theory to plan their future," said John Lash, president, CEO Software Limited. "Instead, CEO*Plan makes it easy for these users to develop a plan based on knowledge of their own circumstances and customers."

CEO*Plan Automates Tasks

CEO*Plan utilizes the power of Quattro Pro 6.0 for Windows and enhances it by helping users spend less time developing calculation rules, defining account relationships, formatting reports or defining input lines. It automates many of the time-consuming and complex design tasks facing users including incorporating man-power, material flow, capital expenditures, services and their related costs.

CEO*Plan automates the creation of common documents with 32 integrated CEO*Reports including Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, Sales, Expense, Assets, Liabilities, Income Tax and corresponding back-up reports. Users can also create custom documents and view them in a convenient annual, monthly or weekly format. CEO*Plan is flexible enough for users to add or change formulas or even the chart of accounts at any time.

"Our users continuously request quality third-party products to enhance Quattro Pro's already powerful capabilities," said Dorothy Wise, director of marketing and development for Novell's Quattro Pro. "Users should benefit from CEO*Plan's tremendous flexibility and ability to automate tasks, saving both time and money."

"We began developing CEO*Plan for Excel and received no support from Microsoft," said Lash. "We quickly turned our attention to Quattro Pro, which is a feature-rich product with powerful development tools. We have had a terrific relationship with Novell. Together, we provide a technology that permits users to place a value on their activities and to communicate the results to those who need to know."

Financial Planning Made Easy

CEO*Plan is designed to be especially easy to use. For example, CEO*Speedbar contains custom-designed icons for faster access to all operations. These icons simplify the process of finding and applying the correct accounting procedures. Intuitive prompts simplify the planning process by guiding the user through all aspects of a plan, prompting for additional information as needed. CEO*Chart of Accounts allows the user to customize, define and interrelate accounts while visually illustrating accounting connections.

Time Savings Add Up

CEO*Plan offers a wide range of accounting options, selected with "point and click" ease, saving time and reducing error. CEO*Smart Accounts intelligently generates "associated accounts," which contain information necessary to support the original account. With CEO*Print, users can quickly preview or print any report, group of reports, data tables or financial analysis reports. Another time-saving feature is CEO*Data Tables, which allow speedy access to data and formulas located in other pages or spreadsheets.

Other Benefits

CEO*Plan ensures a plan's integrity on many levels. Users may change the data they enter, but the software does all the re-calculations. And because the underlying spreadsheet is always available, users can access custom formulas at all times. CEO*Plan also reads data from Microsoft Excel and Lotus 1-2-3.

Pricing and Availability

CEO*Plan for Windows is available for a suggested retail price of $295 (US) by calling CEO Software Limited at (416) 921-4690. CEO*Plan Plus is available for $595 (US) at the same number. For more information, customers can access CEO Software Limited's Home Page on the Internet at http://www.the-wire.com/usr/ceo/or contact the company via e-mail at ceo@the-wire.com.