CK
Now that Penn America has publicly stated that they have solved the problem, perhaps they could offer their services as consultants for others that are still looking for the "silver bullet"!!
Regards
Stewart Nelson
PENN AMERICA GROUP INC 3/27/98 $76.7 07 FINANCIAL 0715 Insurance (Property & Casualty)
By October, we had solved The Year 2000 Problem, completing our examination of millions of lines of computer code, making and testing all the changes necessary to ensure that the information we maintain will move seamlessly into the next century. Also in October, two respected regional publications, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Business Journal again recognized Penn-Americas growing status in our own hometown and in the business community. In a major feature article, the Inquirer cleverly captured our strategy with the headline, Local Insurer Turns Leftovers from Big Names into Banquet. The Business Journal flattered me personally by including me among the 40 Under 40 leaders of our local business community. In this month, we reported that net operating earnings for the third quarter had increased by 35.3%;
The Company relies on its existing management information systems to operate and monitor all major aspects of the Companys business, including underwriting, claims and various financial systems. Additionally, the Company relies, to a lesser extent, on the information systems of its general agents and indirectly those of the producing retail insurance brokers. Any disruption in the operation of the management information systems of the Company, its general agents or their retail insurance brokers, could have a material adverse effect on the Companys business, results of operations or financial condition. Like many computer systems, the Companys systems used two-digit data fields which recognized dates using the assumption that the first two digits are 19 (e.g. thenumber 97 is recognized as the year 1997). Therefore, the Companys date critical functions relating to the year 2000 and beyond, such as underwriting, claims and financial systems, would have been affected adversely unless changes were made to these computer systems. During 1997, the Company addressed this issue and implemented and tested the revised lines of code in the applicable programs of the Company to be year 2000 compliant. The Company believes that most of the necessary changes and most of the expenses related to year 2000 have been expensed to date. The amount expensed in 1997 was not significant. Additional expenses may arise in the upcoming years, but management believes that they would not be material.
|
