The Glass Bank ™ accounting tools are a suite of bookkeeping programs with four major differences from other products:

• Extensive and robust fine-grained security controls are integrated into the design and implementation. Users can be granted access to small or large amounts of information, and the access can be limited to reading only or to limited amounts or at restricted intervals. Controls are available by account, date, access mode (location of computer), and other means.

• Anonymous, authenticated access is supported. It is not necessary to know the name or other information about the user or account holder. For example, Glass Bank™ can be used to implement an automated, internet-connected bank offering numbered, anonymous accounts, or it can register anonymous, electronic bearer shares.

• Glass Bank™ supports multiple views of the same data. Users can ask “what if?” questions, such as “What if our accounts were stated in a different currency, or in gold?”, “What if we were to have adjusted depreciation and sales for inflation?”, or “What if we had merged Company or Firm A with Company or Firm B six years ago?” The software will re-apply transactions and other historical data, applying the adjustments needed at the times the transactions are applied.

• Distributed, transaction-based design assumes that all functions are available locally or on the network, and can be accessed simultaneously by multiple users. For example, in an ordinary sales firm, customers can be given read-only access to their own accounts by using a standard web browser, and several clerks on different machines in an office can post received payments at the same time.