FreeBalance - Company

History

FreeBalance was founded as Linktek Corporation in 1984 in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, as a privately held consulting firm specialized in financial software services for the federal government.The company changed its name to FreeBalance in 1997 after the FreeBalance software system became the financial management system of choice for Canadian government agencies and departments.

The early vision of FreeBalance focused on developing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software for managing government finance. During the 1980s, Canadian government agencies used various bespoke accounting and budget planning systems that were expensive to maintain and difficult to adapt to new government standards.

Growth in North America

While working on government consulting projects, FreeBalance designed and developed a financial management system based on government accounting principles. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada became the first customer in 1986.

The FreeBalance software was born at a time when Canada and the industrialized countries implemented expenditure reforms to modernize government, shift to decentralized public finance and renew the public service. Over the next 8 years, FreeBalance grew rapidly and continued to develop product functionality for modern government financial management.

By the early 1990s, FreeBalance developed a vision for a modular financial management information system (FMIS). The first version of the FMIS, FreeBalance Financials, was released in 1994 after four years of development and consultations with government customers in Canada and the United States. The installed customer base at that time had grown to more than 60 public sector organizations across North America.

FreeBalance eFinancials, now called FreeBalance Accountability Suite, was quickly adopted by numerous government organizations. The company opened a sales office in Washington, DC, USA and attracted funding from leading Canadian venture capital firms. FreeBalance was named by Federal Computer Week as one of the Top Ten Companies to Watch and was ranked by the Branham Group, a leading market research group, as one of Canada's Top 100 Software Companies.

Global Focus

In 1999, Canada created Nunavut, its largest territory. FreeBalance provided the Government of Nunavut with the financial management system and extensive consulting on setting up accounts and controls. This experience inspired the company to look at the world and share lessons learned.

FreeBalance entered the 21st century with a vision of bringing proven Canadian government technology to the world, with focus on countries in transition, fiscal decentralization, change, and reconstruction. The United Nations Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK) in Kosovo became the first international customer 2000, with a base operational system deployed in just 26 days. According to experts from the World Bank, FreeBalance is the de facto standard for post-conflict countries, where fast deployment is crucial to achieve stability. In 2007, FreeBalance opened a support centre in Europe (Kosovo) to enhance global customer service

In 2004, FreeBalance acquired Systèmes Influatec Inc., a firm specializing in civil service management and budgeting software. Following the acquisition, FreeBalance developed an integrated FMIS (IFMIS) and changed the name of FreeBalance eFinancials to FreeBalance Accountability Suite. The FreeBalance IFMIS now provides all core government financial and human capital software, with the exception of taxation and customs revenue systems. The software is available in client-server and web-based configurations and has been enhanced to meet all international accounting standards.

In 2006, President & Chief Executive Officer Manuel Pietra brought global management experience to FreeBalance. FreeBalance was restructured into a global customer-centric company and is now poised for even greater international growth.