A new standard is in the works for the messages that banks use to report cash management information to corporate treasuries, and according to a recent survey of finance executives, that new standard can't arrive too soon.

Messages about things like bank account balances, lockbox services and controlled disbursements currently use a Bank Administration Institute (BAI) format that was last updated in 1987. In the more than two decades since then, banks have responded to changes in the services they offer by independently adjusting the messaging format, forcing treasuries to make alterations to their workstations and other technology to deal with the variations in the messages from different banks.

Eighty-four percent of the more than 1,100 finance professionals surveyed by the Association for Financial Professionals say they want the BAI format to be standardized across all banks, and 44% would also like to see the tags standardized and the information made readable by both machines and humans.