SCOTTSDALE Ariz. – Cornerstone Advisors has turned to some 20 credit unions to help with its inaugural edition of The Cornerstone Report 2006: Benchmarks and Best Practices for Credit Unions.

Focused specifically on larger credit unions with $350 million or more in assets, the benchmarking study will reflect findings pertinent to credit union operations.

According to Cornerstone Advisors President/CEO Scott Sommer, advisory board participants were selected based on their demonstrated accomplishments in planning, measurement by metrics and profit improvement initiatives. "It was a natural first step to enlist the assistance of credit unions that understand, first hand, the measurements and best practice areas that would be most valuable to this target market, said Sommer. Two CU advisory boards-one made up of CUs with assets from $350 million to $750 million and one consisting of Us with over $750 million-helped fine-tune the questionnaires to generate the most relevant data for credit unions to use in benchmarking, process improvement and strategic planning initiatives. "Working from the inside out enabled the advisory boards to guide Cornerstone in the collection of a unique set of data that is not available from any other source," Sommer said. "This will truly be a one-of-a-kind publication."