The evolving coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has directly affected the global economies and the daily lives of every member of the global community.
The business operations of certain industries such as airlines, tourism & hospitality and retail have been directly impacted by the travel restrictions and social distancing requirements. Business operations have also been significantly affected for many companies, including those heavily reliant on human resources from foreign countries and those with multi-location operations in more than one country and particularly in countries where the COVID-19 outbreak has been most widespread and severe. It is expected that many companies would report a lower revenue for the financial year 2020, and some would need to record fair value losses or impairment losses on their investments. Directors and/ or TCWG of listed entities would have to consider the need to provide profit guidance and warnings to users and investors in due course.
This article, written by Crowe Singapore's Head of Audit, Angeline Tan, and Director for Technical and Training, Lee Yan Huei, seeks to highlight the impact of COVID-19 on financial reporting and enable Directors and those charged with governance to focus on key responses as they continue to discharge their financial reporting responsibilities.