The Year 2000 Problem: A Financial Reporting Perspective

As the year 2000 (Y2K) approaches, many organizations are expending significant resources to make their systems year-2000-compliant, and there is growing regulatory pressure to report these costs. This study examines the disclosures of large organizations in three industries to determine how companies are addressing the year 2000 problem in their financial reports. The results revealed that, consistent with the SEC’s revised Staff Legal Bulletin No. 5, which encourages disclosure, all companies in the sample made some disclosure about the year 2000 problem. However, disclosure practices varied widely. Only slightly more than half of the companies reported an estimated dollar amount for Y2K costs. Evidence also suggests that Y2K reporting practices differ across industries