FCA gives companies additional time to file annual reports

U.K. listed companies may take an extra two months to complete annual corporate reporting amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The Financial Conduct Authority said companies and their auditors that are facing challenges with preparing annual financial reports as a result of the pandemic have been granted "temporary relief."

Listed firms needing to take extra time now have an additional two months to publish audited financial statements, now giving them a total of six months from their financial year-end.

"We urge market participants not to draw undue adverse inferences when companies make use of the extra time our temporary relief gives them. For a great many companies it will be a sensible decision to make in unprecedented times," said a news release by the FCA, Thursday.

It is also important that market practice adjusts to these changes, the FCA added. Many U.K. listed companies will publish preliminary statements, ahead of the four-month requirement under the Transparency Directive.

"The coronavirus pandemic is causing companies of all types to significantly adjust their business and operations. As part of this, listed companies will inevitably have to re-think their financial calendars," the FCA release said. It strongly recommends that listed companies review their financial updates timetables "in order to make appropriate use of the time available within regulatory deadlines to ensure accurate and carefully prepared disclosures."

The policy will be reviewed and the FCA will announce how it will end the policy in a "fair, orderly and transparent way" once the disruption caused by the virus abates.

The FCA on March 21 asked companies intending to publish preliminary financial statements in the following days to hold off for at least two weeks. The regulator said that request had been "well observed."

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission extended the relief window for listed companies to file disclosures due March 1 to July 1, by 45 days. The announcement Wednesday extended original relief measures for firms hit by COVID-19, which had covered company disclosures due March 1 to April 30.