COVID-19 has evolved into a pandemic affecting the entire world and resulted in almost all countries adopting lockdown strategies and businesses suddenly finding themselves in very different circumstances to what they would have imagined 12 months ago. The full impact of this will not be seen in the financial statements for the years that ended on 31 December 2019 but will affect the current 2020 year.

You can find the key issues and considerations to be taken into account as raised by the Financial Reporting Faculty in their checklist in the article attached below.

Just a few weeks ago corporations were preparing hard for the AGM season and, with it, some rigorous questioning from shareholders on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. In the social bracket, investors’ concerns around gender diversity on boards and executive pay and pensions were set to top the bill, while environmental proposals largely addressed companies’ efforts to combat climate change and set carbon emissions targets in the wake of broader commitments to honour the 2015 Paris Agreement.

But the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March has seen firms cast into uncharted waters. Several have had to shed jobs or may even face bankruptcy. Others have furloughed staff and rapidly reconfigured their supply chains whilst trying to protect the health of frontline workers or establish new ways of working remotely.

ESG, as a non-market force, has risen sharply up the investor and corporate agenda in just a few years and while some predicted that the Covid-19 pandemic could curtail that momentum, the last few weeks has shown the opposite to be true; in order to weather this crisis and maintain their societal responsibilities, companies have had to further sharpen their focus on ESG.

Firms have not just had to adapt quickly but have had to cope with unprecedented levels of public scrutiny of how they are mitigating the negative effects of the pandemic, particularly on their employees, contractors, customers, and suppliers.

Read the full article here.

Over the past month, it has become popular opinion that organised crime groups (OCGs) across Europe may benefit from the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, Covid-19 has been heralded as an opportunity for OCGs in Italy, where the disease has prompted the Government to release 376 mafia affiliates from prison, and where mortality rates have increased 568 percent. There, Public Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri argues, people in need have turned to OCGs, who offered help first.

But is this so? After all, there are many OCGs in Italy, Covid-19 has affected the country unevenly, and the Government has sought to intervene financially. To answer this question, this article proposes a brief analysis, which focuses on one OCG, the ‘Ndrangheta, and concentrates on the impact of the pandemic in Calabria, the southernmost region of mainland Italy, its fons et origo.

Read the full article here.

During these emergency times, Carabinieri Collezione Ufficiale is donating 5% from their sales to ONAOMAC.

For more info: servizioclienti@carabinieri.it