KU News Release

KU licenses advanced financial search technology

LAWRENCE — Online technologies invented at the University of Kansas, designed to quickly access and analyze highly complex information, have been licensed for commercial application by private company neo Abacus.

Rajendra Srivastava, the Ernst and Young Distinguished Professor of Business and director of the Ernst and Young Center for Auditing Research and Advanced Technology, is the inventor of FRAANK, Financial Reporting and Auditing Agent with Net Knowledge, and SEEK-INF, Search Engine to Extract Knowledge from Industrial Filings. Within seconds, the technologies search for and compile financial and nonfinancial data from public documents, aiding in the preparation of risk assessment models by investors, traders, financial analysts and researchers.

FRAANK is an online technology that retrieves information filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, such as Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. This information is then tagged for analysis, using XBRL, Extensible Business Reporting Language, technology.

“Just as HTML revolutionized the Web,” said Srivastava, “XBRL revolutionizes the accessing, processing and reporting of business information. Regardless of computer platform or application, it makes the using and sharing of information seamless and more transparent for the user.”

According to Jim Baxendale, executive director of KU’s Center for Technology Commercialization, “These KU inventions could have a significant impact on the financial sector. We’re pleased to see private companies using what our faculty members create for the benefit of others.”

neo Abacus, an innovator in business intelligence, has signed a license agreement with KU as part of the company’s next-generation information supply chain platform. FRAANK will be available as a Web subscription service.

“I was impressed with KU’s technology when I first encountered it,” said Donald Meek, chairman and CEO of neo Abacus. “After additional discussion with Professor Srivastava and multiple visits to Lawrence, I was equally impressed with the intellectual talent and resources available at the university. We are hopeful this licensing agreement marks the beginning of a growing research collaboration with KU.”

One example of that collaboration is the company’s co-sponsorship of KU’s fourth annual International Conference on XBRL, scheduled for April 24-25 in Lawrence. Global industry and academic experts will present on the opportunities and challenges associated with using this technology.

For more on FRAANK and Srivastava, see the Oct. 20 issue of Oread.

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