Software industry gears up for EMU

The business and accounting software industry has held its first formal meeting with Bank of England officials to discuss progress on how to tailor products to cope with European Monetary Union.

Even if the UK decides not to join the system, companies doing business in more than one EU country will have to be able to cater both for the new single currency and their own domestic currency. The software industry’s trade association BASDA voiced alarm three weeks ago, after it emerged that the Bank of England’s provisional plans were drawn up without consulting any of accounting software’s key players. Monetary union will have dramatic consequences on the software companies use, even if the UK maintains its current Eurosceptic stance.

BASDA chairman Dennis Keeling stated that the initial talks with the Bank had been extremely positive. He said: ‘We have agreed on the work that needs to be done by the software developers. There is a lot to do, and it makes the issue of millennium compatibility look easy.’

Under the latest proposals agreed between leading developers and the Bank, the software industry will have to meet the requirements for parallel running in two base currencies. According to Keeling, most developers expect to meet the necessary criteria by late 1997 or, at the latest, 1998.

‘All the software will have to be able to run two currencies in parallel for at least three years. The meeting is good news because it means that we have finally raised awareness in the industry and agreed a common way forward.’

Monetary union is currently scheduled to start from January 1999, though the UK has not yet signalled its readiness to join.