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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1063)	2/17/1998 12:08:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

'Least prepared is Germany...' techweb.com 'Computers Not Ready For Euro Rollout (02/16/98; 1:26 p.m. EST) By Andrew Craig, TechWeb <Picture>LONDON -- The majority of businesses in key European countries have not prepared their computer systems for the introduction of the single European currency, to be introduced in 1999, according to a report published Monday. The new European Monetary Union currency, called EMU or the Euro, will be rolled out over three years beginning Jan. 1, 1999 for non-cash transactions, and will include coins and bank notes by 2002. EMU is expected to become the only valid currency in participating countries during 2002. On average, 11 percent of small to medium-sized businesses in the European Union have acted on the IT implications of the new European currency, said the report by the U.K. branch of accounting firm Grant Thornton. The introduction of the European-wide currency, which is expected to replace existing currencies in participating countries by the year 2003, will require reprogramming of most companies' financial computer systems. The effects of new currency will be greater than the combined effects of decimalization, value-added tax and the millennium, said Stephen Dexter, spokesman at Grant Thornton. "Small to medium-sized companies are only now beginning to wake up to the implications," Dexter said. "It is no good waiting to see what happens because it will be too late to act," he said. Least prepared is Germany, where 51 percent of small to medium-sized businesses said they do not know what impact the new currency will have on their computer systems, said the report. Moreover 16 percent of German companies said they felt positive about the introduction of the currency -- compared with the European average of 29 percent. <snip> '