SEC Filings And Y2K

Caught this will scanning the past few days reports. -- Diane San Jose Mercury New -- Silicon Valley http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/codes/B/docs/B530.htm

Posted at 11:05 p.m. PST Thursday, November 12, 1998

Lawmaker urges SEC to enforce Year 2000 reports

Reuters

WASHINGTON - A senior lawmaker urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday to report whether publicly-traded companies are properly disclosing their exposure to the Year 2000 computer glitch.

Utah Republican Sen. Robert Bennett, who chairs the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, said investors deserved access to accurate information.

Earlier this year the SEC reminded companies, securities issuers and investment advisers that the disclosure laws applied to Year 2000 issues just like any other factor that could have a material impact on financial performance.

Increasing numbers of companies have been including information about Year 2000 programs and their cost in quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC.

Last month the SEC charged 96 brokerage firms with failing to file reports on the steps they were taking to prepare for the Year 2000.

In a statement, Bennett said he had asked SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt in a letter when similar enforcement would be applied to public companies.

The Year 2000 problem arises from the early days of computers, when memory was a precious commodity. Programmers used only two digits to indicate the year, as in ``98'' for ``1998,'' an economy measure that may cause computers to recognize ``2000'' as ``1900'' or fail altogether.

``We must act now to protect the hard-earned dollars of seniors and working people who have invested or a planning to invest for retirement or their children's education,'' Bennett said.

``The SEC's swift action against the broker-dealers leads me to inquire about what the SEC is doing to enforce disclosure requirements outside the securities industry,'' he said.

SEC spokesman Duncan King said the agency would not respond to Bennett's letter publicly.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 15, 1998

Answers

Diane,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention as this is an issue of critical importance, and one which John Q. Public can hopefully resolve, by speaking up about it, especially now that Senator Bennett has perceptively recognized a problem here.

Unfortunately I discovered the answers to Bennett's questions last week as I began searching the EDGAR Databases posted by Arnie at this link:

http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar

In my quest for current 10-Q forms, I find that there are indeed some very naughty CEOs out there in the business world. Many companies are late in filing their 10-Qs, and the majority of those who have filed them are conveniently ignoring Y2K issues. These CEOs would rather continue to rally their stocks to record highs and when the truth becomes obvious to stockholders they will be running for corporate parachutes with which to bail out and cash in their chips before everything comes crashing down. The fact that the SEC only investigated and fined BROKERAGE FIRMS, ignoring the rest of the corporate world, should tell you something. Wall Street has become the "Las Vegas" of the financial world and brokerage firms are the "Casinos." The SEC only cares about keeping the casinos functioning so that these CEOs can continue to reap profits off of the increasingly turbulent ups and downs of the market. Companies which fall victim to Y2K are nothing more than targets for corporate takeover to these vultures. In addition, the SEC fines are not nearly high enough to force any business to divulge their true Y2K status, and are not being enforced because when the truth becomes obvious, "Las Vegas" will have to close for a while. Who wins and who loses in this high-stakes game? You guessed it. Average working class Joe taxpayer is going to be struggling through a severe depression while these greedy bastards are sitting high above us in their Ivory Towers. They have been pulling our strings like puppets and playing with our financial security like it is a toy. Not only are we being shafted into providing corporate welfare (GOOD ARTICLE ON THIS: http://cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1998/11/02/corp.welfare.html) out of our hard-earned paychecks, but we are also going to get stuck with the entire bill for corporate bail-outs, loans, bankruptcies and the whole bloody Y2K mess. These CEOs have been ignoring Y2K concerns for years because they know that turbulent market conditions make the "game" more exciting, provide them with more opportunities to profit, and if there are any losses, these will simply be put on the bill of the taxpayers, because it is "an act of God". How dare they use the name of God to rationalize their total lack of morality. What ever happened to ethics? It would be far more truthful to call it an act of Satan and those responsible should be hung. We are being royally SCREWED. And if we don't speak up about this type of corruption we will continue to be screwed, over and over again. I have written more than I intended to, and am obviously angry, but I have a right to be. And so do you! Please go to the EDGAR Database and look up any public companies you can think of. We need to support SENATOR BENNETT on this one! We need to get this situation to the media NOW and demand that the SEC start enforcing these disclosures, and start charging higher fines to those who don't obey. In addition we should make sure that money from those fines goes toward Y2K recovery to ease the huge burden on taxpayers in the coming years.

Thanks, and Best Wishes, Guy

-- guy (guy@work.com), November 15, 1998.