OSC to host webinar for small businesses on COVID-19 disclosure considerations

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) will host a webinar for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on disclosing and reporting on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar is being offered as part of the OSC SME Institute, which helps SMEs understand and navigate the requirements of being a public company in Ontario.

“We know that physical distancing and other measures put in place to help prevent transmission of the virus have affected economic activity,” said Sonny Randhawa, Director, Corporate Finance. “In many cases, this has had a significant negative impact on issuers’ operations, financial condition, cash flows and financial performance.”

This webinar is an opportunity for issuers and their advisors to hear directly from staff on considerations and high-level guidance for disclosing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants that are registered will also be able to interact with staff during the Q&A portion of the webinar.

Key topics covered in the webinar will include:

• Liquidity and capital resources
• Forward-looking information
• Significant judgements and estimation uncertainty
• Impairment considerations for non-financial assets
• Non-GAAP financial measures
• Risk factor disclosure
• Material change reporting

The webinar is scheduled for May 6, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. EST. For more details and to register, visit the SME Institute calendar on the OSC website. For questions related to course content, please contact [email protected].

An archived replay of the webinar will be available on the OSC’s website and YouTube channel. The OSC SME Institute informs SMEs on avoiding common deficiencies and gives SMEs the opportunity to hear first-hand from OSC Staff on the latest issues that have an impact on their markets.

The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices, to foster fair and efficient capital markets and confidence in the capital markets, and to contribute to the stability of the financial system and the reduction of systemic risk.  Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at http://www.osc.gov.on.ca.
 

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