Accounting for coronavirus impact: Here're key challenges faced by auditors

At a time when most companies are scrambling to generate year-end financial statements and match their accounts, the ominous impact of the coronavirus outbreak on businesses has sent accountants and auditors into a tizzy.

The key challenge, say experts, is to capture the potential financial impact and implications on assets, liabilities, and results — both present and future. The other is to provide appropriate disclosure for various stakeholders in an evolving business scenario, they add.

Businesses which are dependent on supply from China or have exposure to the Chinese market are the worst affected. “All investment, loan and assets connected