UK companies should carry out impact assessments on how the euro
will effect their IT systems and business, industry experts urged
this week.
IT managers in UK subsidiaries should also monitor the progress of
their mainland European counterparts to spot best practice for
dealing with the euro.
Although the introduction of the new currency next year will have a
limited direct impact on UK companies, financial experts insist
that IT managers should plan ahead.
"A company can save time by doing an impact analysis now," said
Alice Bretherton, information risk management specialist at KPMG's
financial services practice. "This will let them see how the euro
will affect them in a number of areas, including the business and
the systems."
IT managers should also monitor the progress of their European
counterparts to prepare them for the demands of the euro should the
UK join.
"Generally speaking, we are seeing that companies in Europe are not
as well prepared as they thought they would be," said Bretherton.
"Some smaller companies are relying on the software companies to
convert them [to the euro] rather than running their own
projects."
If the UK joins the single currency companies will have to convert
their accounting systems to the euro from the base currency of
sterling. Alternatively, they could opt for a "quick and dirty"
solution by using wrapping software to convert the data from
sterling to euros.