Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on assessment of companies activity within international standards of financial reporting

Abstract

Introduction. During crises like the current one, induced by a global pandemic of the COVID-19, the most relevant aspects for the majority of businesses are a continuity of their operating, assessment for impairment and assessment of expected credit losses. These factors impact accounting and financial reporting which, in turn, impact decision-making. A business survival in such conditions is highly dependent on how efficiently managers assess these aspects. The purpose of the paper is to determine particular actions management should undertake in order to prevent business bankruptcy as a result of the pandemic and the pandemic-related restrictions. Results. It terms of assessment of continuity of business operating, the main issue is the fact that the budgets approved in 2019 for the year 2020 turned to be irrelevant in the context of expected prices, sales volumes, total net profit, working capital and the effects of exchange difference, whereas the key solution is an estimation of a company’s liquidity to be able to cover liabilities within the deadlines. In terms of assessment for impairment, there two indicators of the impairment: external changes with significant impact on a company or its environment and a situation when a book value of net assets exceeds company’s market capitalization whereas a solution is to determine amount of expected compensation either with a traditional approach or with an approach based on expected cash flows. In terms of credit losses assessment, among the factors that should be accounted there are, for instance, additional economic scenarios that address high uncertainty, an impact on particular groups of clients, industries or regions and actions taken by governments and central banks whereas among the targets of the assessment there are, for instance, an ability to include changes of a default risk into evaluation of default probability in time. Conclusions. COVID-19 pandemic and the risks related to it caused a significant impact on accounting and financial reporting, regardless of a company’s industry, size and region where it is located which is expressed in the dynamic of the Global SEMs bankruptcy index and PMI.