F9 - The Financial Reporter was originally developed by
Synex Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Synex International (Symbol SXI,
TSX). First announced in 1988 as Acclink for
Accpac as a
Lotus 1-2-3 add-in for
MS-DOS and released under F9 name later in 1989. Subsequently F9 was developed for
Microsoft Excel. F9 was developed to allow a non-technical user, typically an accountant, to create a dynamic, customized
general ledger financial report using a spreadsheet that is 'hot-linked' to an accounting system's general ledger. Initially, the user interface used the same syntax as Accpac for specifying the reporting period. This was soon replaced by a simpler to understand and more flexible generic
natural language interface that used a temporal trinary (three part) phrase parsing syntax composed of a modifier, a period specifier, and a temporal index. For example: "starting balance last quarter" is broken down to 'starting balance' (modifier) + 'last' (temporal index) + 'quarter' (period). The temporal index can be relative or absolute and the modifier can determine if the value returned is differential or cumulative. An F9 addin was developed for Excel in 1989 and with the lack of a 1-2-3 version that supported Windows and problems with the Lotus Programming Language (LPL) the Excel version of F9 soon far outsold the 1-2-3 version. On or about the year 2002 F9 was renamed 'F9 - Financial Intelligence.' In 2002, Synex Systems was acquired by privately owned Lasata Software of
Perth,
Australia. In 2005, Lasata was acquired by
UK based Systems Union. In 2007, Systems Union was acquired by privately held
Infor Global Solutions, a
U.S. company that specializes in
enterprise software. What was Synex Systems Corporation now operates as an independent business unit (IBU) within
Infor Global Solutions called F9. As of 2012 F9 was used by over 30,000 financial accounting professionals in more than 20 countries worldwide and was named one of Accounting Today's "Top 100 Software Products" for 2001. ==Features==