|
Autumn 1997
|
Amid all the hype and speculation over the Year 2000, another potentially thorny problem has been sneaking up on us, largely unnoticed: the Euro.
Whether we like it or not, a single European currency is going to happen, and whether or not the UK participates, it is going to affect thousands of British companies who trade with European nations and use computerised accounting systems.
Many software packages are already multi-currency-capable, able to invoice in deutschmarks or francs but still produce management reports etc in the equivalent sterling values, but that does not give us grounds for complacency. One software house told MultiValue News that one of its end-users had told them about a Euro-compliance questionnaire they had been asked to complete by one of their major customers. This questionnaire asked, among other things, whether their financial systems supported up to 6 decimal places. Does yours? Does anyone's?
There has been enough press acreage given to the Year 2000 issue in the last year or two to wallpaper the Chrysler Building, but comparatively very little to the Emu Problem. BASDA, the Business and Accounting Software Developers Association, and the CSSA have had initial talks with the European commissioner responsible for the single currency, Yves Thibault de Silguy, and a round-table discussion of the IT issues EMU raises is slated for this autumn. The British Standards Institution DISC group is setting up a working party to draw up a set of standards and some software houses are starting to mention the issue on their Websites, but there is still quite a way to go, and little time: the timetable for European Monetary Union expects the first phase to begin on 1st January 1999, when the Euro is introduced as an accounting unit.
MultiValue News will be addressing the issue in a future edition; watch out for a special report.
British Standards InstitutionLast Updated: 22 July 1999