Y2K

The Securities and Exchange Commission has a problem with the way companies are disclosing their year 2000 computer problems. Last week, the agency, which regulates the nation's stock markets, issued a statement that scolded public corporations for their lack of Y2K candor. "While the number of companies disclosing year 2000 issues has increased dramatically," an SEC release said, "many companies are not providing the quality of disclosure that we believe investors expect."

The U.S. Small Business Administration has created a 24-hour help line to provide information by fax on ways to avoid year 2000 computer problems. Those interested can call toll-free (877) 789-2565. The SBA also has information about the so-called "Y2K" computer bug on its Web site: http://www.sba.gov/y2k/, and at its toll-free "Answer Desk" line at (800) 827-5722.

Mention the Y2K problem to many small-business owners and you will get a big "Huh?" For business owners struggling to keep up with their current workloads, the only Ks they regularly deal with are 401(k)s. "Y2K" stands for year 2000 and the so-called millennium bug. Basically, the problem is that computers and tiny little chips implanted in all sorts of machinery and devices were designed to record dates as two-digit numerals, 98 for 1998, for example.

By now you've probably heard about the "millennium bug," also known as "the year 2000 problem" or just "Y2K." President Clinton has discussed it at Cabinet meetings, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has addressed Parliament on the issue, and many small-business owners have, no doubt, wondered whether it will affect their organization.

The year 2000 is still a year away, but computer service companies addressing the Y2K problems of their clients are already finding that work is tapering off. Newport Beach-based Data Processing Resources Corp., which last week reported record earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts, said revenue from Y2K remediation services fell as a proportion of overall sales. "Some of our clients are completely done.

The year 2000 is still a year away, but computer service companies addressing the Y2K problems of their clients are already finding work is tapering off. Newport Beach-based Data Processing Resources Corp., which last week reported record earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts, said revenues from Y2K remediation services fell as a proportion of overall sales.

A lot of people don't realize that their data files might be more vulnerable to the "millennium bug" than their hardware or software. I became aware of that recently when I ran Norton 2000, a $49.95 package from Symantec that checks for year 2000, or Y2K, compliance on Windows 95, 98 and NT systems. Unlike some Y2K compliance programs, Norton 2000 goes beyond checking the hardware and operating system and checks your application software and data files. My hardware checked out fine.

Edward Yardeni sees it as a marketing problem: How do you sell an outlandish idea to people whose initial reactions range from boredom to irritation? Yardeni, chief economist and managing director of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, is the Paul Revere--some say Chicken Little--of the year 2000 computer problem. The Yale-educated economist is perhaps the leading proponent of the notion that the glitch--known as the millennium bug or just Y2K--may wreak havoc on the global economy.

The U.S. agency managing the nation's nuclear weapon stockpile is testing its most critical computers, after Pentagon inspectors discovered nobody had verified whether key systems could withstand year 2000 problems. The Pentagon's Inspector General's Office found only 25% of the agency's "mission critical" defense computer systems had been tested before being certified as Y2K compliant.