Some Year 2000 compliance reports received by the Australian Stock Exchange from Australia’s public companies are not up to scratch, according to ASX chairman Maurice Newman. He said that reports received by the ASX have in some cases been sanitized, and he has laid the blame at the feet of lawyers. Newman, who is also chairman of the government’s Year 2000 industry program, will dispatch please explains to retrieve more information from corporate Australia. He expects the next batch of reports to be better, as analysts will be rating companies on a range of performance indicators that will now include Y2K compliance. At a press conference on Friday, Newman pointed out that some large multinationals have commenced building so-called fortresses of Y2K compliant suppliers and customers, to provide a safe trading environment for themselves come January 1, 2000.
