The ups and downs in the economy during the novel coronavirus pandemic are causing audit committees at public companies to focus on the disclosures in their financial statements and SEC filings about the current and potential impacts of COVID-19, according to a new report from KPMG.
The report, Challenges Presented by COVID-19, found that companies are reassessing, enhancing or establishing new internal controls due to pandemic-related disruptions to their business operations. Meanwhile internal auditors are adjusting their audit plans and activities.
John Alchemy, M.D., is founder and CEO of Rate-Fast.
He has been practicing occupational and family medicine since 1997 and is a diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice. Dr. Alchemy has performed and reviewed over 10,000 cases (and counting).
Kim Silva has more than 25 years of combined accounting and teaching experience. In addition to her undergraduate degree in accounting, she has a MS in financial crime and compliance management, and is a doctoral candidate (ABD) in management. She recently founded Essential Business Education, and currently is a visiting assistant professor of practice in accounting at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Reach her at hello@essentialbusinessedu.com or via LinkedIn.
Priya Krishnan, chief digital, and transformation officer at Bright Horizons has a storied background as an entrepreneur who founded India's leading child care and schooling service provider with more than 150 company-owned, company-operated centers across the country. At Bright Horizons, she leads all client relationships for the US, International M&A, and innovation projects. Priya joined the Bright Horizons family after founding and running KLAY, a high-quality childcare organization, which has grown to become India's largest childcare company.
Forecasting has become more challenging, including developing assumptions for the recoverability of goodwill and nonfinancial assets, as well as the realizability of deferred tax assets, making going-concern determinations and figuring other asset impairments more difficult, according to the report.
Nevertheless, audit committees are adapting to the new environment, as their companies allow more flexibility for remote work. Among the biggest areas of concern cited by the 114 U.S. audit committee members polled by the KPMG Audit Committee Institute are disclosures about the current and potential effects of COVID-19 (79 percent), preparation of forward-looking cash flow estimates (48 percent), and impairment of nonfinancial assets such as goodwill and other intangible assets (43 percent).
Audit committee members indicated that the remote work environment accelerated by COVID-19 has so far had little impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of their interactions with the management team and auditors.
Companies are reassessing their internal controls in response to COVID-19-related disruptions to their business operations. The most commonly cited disruptions included return-to-work plans (73 percent), IT system access and authentication for remote workers (69 percent) and cybersecurity (66 percent).
Audit committee members expect some environmental, social and governance issues to get much more attention from boards as a result of COVID-19 and recent protests against systemic racism. Survey respondents cited employee health, safety and well-being (85 percent), diversity within the company including the boardroom (53 percent) and corporate reputation (39 percent) as areas of greater focus for boards.
The pandemic has also caused many audit committees to reassess the scope of their workload agendas in addition to their risk oversight responsibilities. Most audit committee members who responded to the survey cited oversight responsibilities for a variety of COVID-related risks, including financial risks (83 percent), legal and regulatory compliance (70 percent), cybersecurity (62 percent) and data privacy (42 percent).
