Behind the development of FinFolio is Matt Abar, the former founder and chief executive of Techfi, the firm which was among the pioneers of web-based portfolio management and was bought by Advent Software in 2002.

FinFolio is the product of two years of product development and a year of beta testing, and much attention has been paid to the look and “feel” of the system, giving it what the firm calls an “Office-like” user interface. “We spent a lot of time on design, to make FinFolio stylistically match software that advisors already have on their desktop and fit easily into their workflow,” Abar said in a statement.

Other features include a CleanData error framework for tracking and managing data quality and a plug-in framework which allows customisation with Microsoft Visual Studio. It is also possible to run the system via a web browser, as well as on users’ desktops.

According to FinFolio’s chief technology officer, Mike Benson, Workstation 2010 is the most flexible and open portfolio accounting platform in the industry. "This is more than a portfolio accounting system," he said. "FinFolio is a plug-in platform for financial services software. Advisors can customise screens, add new reports and charts, and use FinFolio's open API allowing virtually unlimited customisation possibilities.”

While it remains to be seen if FinFolio will prove to be a major competitor to the systems from the larger firms such as Advent and Odyssey, Workstation 2010 certainly seems to be an innovative product, as its proprietary CleanData tool is still awaiting a patent.