SEC Asks Companies to Report COVID-19 Impact, Risk Mitigation Actions, Also Extends Deadline for Reports
SEC said the report must contain all measures they have undertaken or will undertake when it comes to the mitigation of the risks and impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
in March 17, 2020 – As the Philippines faced the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the government has announced community quarantines in Metro Manila while provinces also announced specific lockdowns and quarantines. As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases grew, efforts to mitigate the risks are implemented by the government, as well as private and publicly-listed companies. For publicly-listed companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is requiring them to disclose the impact of the outbreak on their operations as well as the risk mitigation actions they have taken.
SEC requires publicly-listed companies to file SEC Form 17-C for such disclosures. They must be made to the Philippine Stock Exchange through the PSE Electronic Disclosure Generation Technology (EDGE) not later than noon of March 16, 2020.
SEC said the report must contain all measures they have undertaken or will undertake when it comes to the mitigation of the risks and impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Commission said this is in pursuant to their policy of full and fair disclosure about security. SEC also said it is the duty of publicly- listed companies to report every fact that would reasonably affect the decision of investors to buy, sell, or hold their securities.
Recently, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) implement shortened trading hours starting today March 16, 2020 until April 14, 2020.
TRADING SCHEDULE ALERT:
The PSE will observe shortened trading hours from March 16 to April 14, 2020.
Trading schedule on Monday, March 16:
9:00am – Pre-Open
9:30am – Market Open
12:45pm – Pre-Close
12:50pm – Run-off / Trading at Last
1:00pm – Market Close— Philippine Stock Exchange (@PhStockExchange) March 15, 2020
This is in line with the order to place the National Capital Region under community quarantine in the same period.
The SEC also recently approved a memorandum extending the deadline for filing of annual and quarterly reports for companies affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Under the new memorandum approved on March 12, affected corporations with domestic operations may fil until June 20, 2020 their annual reports and/or annual financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2019.
For those with domestic and foreign operations, this is extended until June 30 or 60 days from the date of lifting of travel restrictions by concerned government authorities, whichever comes later.
For those who need more time to submit reports, the publicly listed corporation must submit a written request to the Commission.
The SEC said it will continue to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the preparation of financial statements and on the completion of the statutory audits of companies. The Commission noted it may issue more rules and regulations to address concerns that may further arise.
This article is published on BitPinas: SEC Asks Companies to Report COVID-19 Impact, Risk Mitigation Actions, Also Extends Deadline for Reports
