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

To: John Mansfield who wrote (3801)	2/11/1999 12:30:00 AM
From: jwk	Respond to of 9818

Many Companies Lagging in Y2K Disclosure, SEC Accountant Says By Marcy Gordon AP (page 8c - Business Section of Today's Denver Post) Corporate America has fallen far behind in disclosing its readiness for the Year 2000 and how much the preparations an computer upgrades have been costing, the chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. A check of financial reports that publicly traded companies must submit to the SEC shows that "many companies are still not complying" with Year 2000 disclosure requirements, Lynn Turner said at a conference organized by the District of Columbia Bar association. He said more than half the companies in an unspecified sample failed to disclose how much it is costing them to get their computer systems ready for the millennial change, while close to half didn't describe their contingency plans in case the systems fail. The market watchdog agency is alerting investors to examine the Year 2000 disclosures of companies that interest them, Tunrner told the attorneys. If he were the chief financial officer of a corporation that wasn't adequately prepared and things went wrong after Jan. 1, Turner quipped, " I'd be hung out there like a cold piece of meat in storage." Since last summer, the SEC has benn nudging companies to provide more details so investors can be better informed. The agency isued guidelines on how publicly traded corporations as well as mutual fund companies and brokerage firms should make the required disclosures of Year 2000 costs and risks. Known as Y2K, the year 2000 problem....snip..... SEC Chariman Arthur Levitt has warned that if investors don't have sufficient information regarding a company's readiness, confidence could be seriously undermined and "panic and overrecation" could ripple through the economy. SEC officials also have said they will take enforcement action against companies that make materially false and misleading statements about Year 2000 readiness. Asked about possible action against companies that fail to adequately disclose their readiness, Truner said he hoped that could be largely avaoided by having the SEC ask the companies to voluntarily revise their reports with fuller information.