The survey results confirm that increased financial disclosure is a top corporate priority among the more than 235 European executives who were surveyed in September. More than 95 percent of the executives surveyed feel it is important to provide more financial information to executive management, non-executive directors and shareholders to improve corporate accountability.

"The recent business scandals will put pressure on CFOs and their IT departments to conform to tighter accounting standards and new corporate governance practices," said Ruediger Spies, vice president at META Group. "IT and business management must understand that more frequent and more accurate information has to be available from corporate finance systems. This will put additional pressure on those enterprises that have not yet installed a robust enterprise backbone system."

In addition to the need for increased financial disclosure, more than 96 percent of survey respondents also believe that financial accountability must be driven down to line management to support corporate reform efforts. Another 84 percent cited the need for faster management reporting and reduced financial close cycle times as another key initiative that could improve corporate accountability.

Although the highest profile scandals have occurred in the United States, more than 50 percent of European executives say that the impact was also felt by European and multinational companies, which is likely to result in more restrictive accounting standards in Europe.

In addition, more than 52 percent of executives feel that recent European initiatives, such as the Department of Trade and Industry initiatives in the United Kingdom and the new Transparency and Disclosure Law in Germany, will drive tighter accounting standards and practices in Europe within three years.