The\nongoing spread of the coronavirus in Germany, Europe and the world\nhas had a significant impact on all areas of society. Last but not least,\nthe economy has also been severely affected by the Corona pandemic. In particular,\nthe collapse of global and national supply chains and the cessation\nor drastic reduction of production in a large number of sectors of\nthe economy are increasingly leading to noticeable economic and\nfinancial burdens for companies. <\/p>\n\n
The\neffects of the coronavirus on\n the annual financial statements as of 31.12.2019 are explained below.<\/p>\n\n
Quite\na few companies are currently preparing their annual financial statements as of 31.12.2019.\nIn accordance with Section 252 (1) No. 2 of the German Commercial Code (HGB), annual financial statements must be prepared on the assumption of a When\nvaluing balance sheet items \u2013 regardless of the coronavirus \u2013 the\nquestion arises as to the extent to which value-enhancing or value-creating events after the\nbalance sheet date are to be taken into account. Value-enhancing events are to Currently,\nthe Federal Government has not made any changes to the statutory deadlines for the\npreparation and disclosure of annual financial statements of corporations\n. Thus, it remains the case that the annual financial statements of\ncorporations must be prepared within three or six months after the end of the\nfinancial year. If these\nlegal deadlines cannot currently be met due to the Corona pandemic, there is no threat of sanctions (fines or administrative fines), at least\nunder commercial law. The disclosure\nof annual financial statements must regularly take place within one year of the end of the\nfinancial year. The legislator provides for administrative fines in the event of late disclosure\n. It is conceivable here that the provision of Section 335 (5) of the German Commercial Code (HGB\n) comes into effect, according to which the imposition\nof administrative fines is initially waived in the event of inability through no fault of one’s own. <\/p>\n\n The federal\nand state governments are supporting the economy with a wide range of measures. The granting of\nshort-time work allowance and direct grants, the granting of loans and the\nassumption of guarantees are intended to mitigate the economic and financial\neffects of the Corona pandemic. Insofar as such measures can be capitalised\n(e.g. subsidies), they may in principle only be capitalised if\nthere is legal certainty about the granting of such\nmeasures by means of a decision or other administrative acts. Therefore, capitalization in the 2019 annual financial statements will not\nbe relevant. <\/p>\n\n Annual financial statements\nand management reports of medium-sized and large corporations are subject to\nauditing. Auditors\nwill focus on the audit of the financial statements even more than in previous years on the examination of the assumption of\ngoing concern. Special Even though the coronavirus pandemic has only had a significant impact on companies since the beginning\/middle of March 2020, there are already effects on the annual financial statements and the management report for the 2019 financial year. The management must reassess and evaluate all relevant circumstances and facts that have an impact on the “going concern” assumption under the aspect of “Corona”. Since a large number of the “negative” accounting adjustments (provisions through the creation of provisions, devaluation of receivables) will not take effect until the 2020 financial year, the assessment and presentation of the positive effects of the public support measures is of particular importance. <\/p>\n\n How much does the Corona crisis have you in its grip? What challenges do you face with regard to the annual financial statements as of 31.12.2019? We look forward to your comments. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n Image source: stock.adobe.com, Photographer: Stanisic Vladimir<\/small><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ongoing spread of the coronavirus in Germany, Europe and the world has had a significant impact on all areas of society. Last but not least, the economy has also been severely affected by the Corona pandemic. In particular, the collapse of global and national supply chains and the cessation or drastic reduction of production…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[364,274,362,333],"class_list":["post-11443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance-accounting","tag-annual-accounts","tag-coronavirus","tag-crisis-management","tag-general-ledger-accounting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCoronavirus: value-enhancing or value-creating event<\/h4>\n\n
Deadlines for the preparation and disclosure of annual accounts<\/h4>\n\n
Activation of public support measures<\/h4>\n\n
Statutory audit of annual financial statements for the 2019 financial year<\/h4>\n\n
Recommendations<\/h4>\n\n