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Grant Thornton offers solutions to the digital risk issues you are sure to face. Our skilled and experienced security team can helping by advising and consulting, giving you peace of mind, clear value for money and an enhanced ability to react to attacks.
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Motivating and assisting our clients to pursue, maintain and secure the benefits of digital solutions is at the core of our Digital Transformation teams' agenda and goals. We work with business leaders to deliver efficient digital strategies and operating models that provide new or enhanced capabilities.
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Our all-island Economics Advisory team combines expertise in economics and business with a wealth of experience across the public and private sectors.
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The Grant Thornton People & Change Consulting practice works with clients on these issues as well as on all aspects of how they attract, retain, engage develop, deploy and lead their people.
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Corporate and International Tax
Northern Ireland businesses face further challenges as they operate in the only part of the UK that has a land border with a country offering a lower tax rate.
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Our team specialises in remuneration and incentive planning and works closely with employers, shareholders and employees to ensure that business strategies are aligned and goals achieved in the most tax efficient, cost-effective manner.
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Our outsourced service provides valued service to over 150 separate PAYE schemes. These ranging from 1 to 1000 employees, working for micro, SME and global employers. The service is supported by the integrated network of tax and global mobility teams and the wider Grant Thornton network delivering a seamless service. Experienced staff deliver a personal service built around your business needs.
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At Grant Thornton (NI) LLP, our team helps Northern Ireland businesses manage their UK and global indirect tax risks which, as transactional taxes, can quickly become big liabilities.
The impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on your financial statements
Kate McCann
05 May 2020
Many businesses across Northern Ireland have seen their doors shut with no indication of when they might open again as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Not only should you be aware of the trading impact of the pandemic on your business, but also the impact that the current situation may have on your financial statements.
Uncertainty surrounding Brexit and mounting global trade and growth concerns were already causing consternation even before the Covid-19 outbreak. Your business should now be reviewing how to manage the widespread disruption to supply chains, and how to continue trading with the lack of availability or delays to supplies. For many businesses, already under pressure, the impact of this further disruption may be more than they can bear. It is important that you asses how your business has been impacted by COVID-19 , and how this affects the going concern assumption. Where issues are identified in relation to the going concern assumption, additional disclosures may be required.
You should also consider if your business will require a post balance sheet event disclosure in your financial statements. For example, at 31 December 2019 there were few reported cases and little confirmed evidence of Covid-19 spread amongst humans, therefore the pandemic would not have an effect on balances within the financial statements at 31 December 2019. However, it would be what is known as a ‘non-adjusting event’. Where the impact of the outbreak is material to the financial statements, this will need to be disclosed in the notes as a post balance sheet event, along with an estimate of the financial effect. If the financial effect is not yet known, then this must be also be disclosed.
Where stock is material to the financial statements, your auditors will need to gain comfort over its existence at the reporting date. As a result, they will be required to observe the physical stock count unless it is impracticable to do so. If due to the Coronavirus, attendance at the stock count is impractical, then it may be possible to carry out alternative procedures. For example, if you can carry out your stock count at a later date, your auditors can attend this count, and roll-back procedures can be performed. In order to perform roll-back procedures, your auditors will need access to all stock movement since the year-end, so you need to ensure your records reflect this. Alternatively, technology could be utilised and if you are carrying out your stock count, but your auditors cannot attend, they could potentially attend by video call. If it is not possible for your auditors to obtain evidence of stock at the reporting date, then this will have an impact on the audit report.
This situation is changing rapidly. Keeping in touch with your auditor or accountant throughout this time will mean that any potential impact to your financial statements won’t come as a surprise.
