Beyond the GAAP - March 2020

Our last editorial touched, without wanting to believe it, on the wide repercussions we could expect from the coronavirus outbreak.

A few days later, with half the world’s population now under lock-down (whether enforced or encouraged), this month’s news has necessarily taken on a distinct flavour all its own. This is why we have produced a ‘COVID-19 supplement’ to examine the impacts of the crisis on 2019 reporting (for those entities still concerned!), and on the annual reporting that does not coincide with the calendar year and on the 2020 interim accounts.

While the crisis is absorbing a good deal of energy, the IASB has so far made only minor adjustments to its calendar and work plan. March, for example, saw the publication of a discussion paper on goodwill and impairment, to which we will return later in more detail. We also present the conclusions of the redeliberations on IFRS 17 amendments. The mandatory effective date of this standard has now been set at no later than 1 January 2023.

COVID-19 supplement

As the world faces an exceptionally severe crisis, Mazars’ experts are busier than ever, ensuring that we are still here to help you with the range of accounting challenges thrown up by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Firstly, this supplement will keep you up-to-date with the position statements on the current crisis published by various market authorities and institutions, as Beyond the GAAP has always aimed to do. In this unprecedented situation, we are also introducing a new feature: the supplement will present Mazars’ preliminary views on topics that are currently being discussed within the accounting profession, in conjunction with standard-setters, market regulators and corporate representatives, and that have not yet been the subject of any “official” publications.

This supplement is the first in what we hope will only be a short series. It will enable us to alert readers to new developments, even when a regular issue of Beyond the GAAP is not scheduled for publication. We hope that, like Beyond the GAAP, it will meet your needs by providing clear, relevant and concise information.

Download the attachments below to read more.