Listed firms miss reporting deadlines

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A NUMBER of firms listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) have copped out of publishing quarterly statements, choosing instead to issue trading updates on permission from the exchange.
This comes as the requirement to prepare and present financial statements that comply with Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies Standard (IAS 29), has been complicated by the suspension of the publication of year-on-year inflation data by government.
Justin Bgoni, ZSE’s chief executive said the exchange has given companies a choice between publishing a trading update or waiting for due guidance from accounting boards.
“You will realise that companies in Zimbabwe have been facing some difficulties with regards to executing the accounting standard for hyperinflationary economies, following the recent pronouncement by the PAAB,” the chief executive said last week in a telephone interview with this publication.
“So now there is guidance that is expected, but the requirements are that companies should report within a specific period.
“In view of this, we have given companies a choice on whether to publish a trading update within the specified period or to wait for the guidance.
“For those companies that have opted to wait, we have granted them an extension on the time frame in which they can publish their quarterly results,” he said.
Over the past two weeks, a number of listed firms have published quarterly trading updates, while others have announced the delay of their quarterly results.
Bgoni said under normal circumstances, companies would be required to publish abridged quarterly statements within 45 days after the end of the first and third quarter of each financial year.
The exchange introduced the requirement for quarterly reporting in June this year after government gazetted amended Listing Requirements under Statutory Instrument 134 of 2019.
Before this, companies had only been required to publish annual results and half-year not later than three months after the end of the year or the interim period.
The ZSE has over the past year, handed companies a couple of concessions on reporting requirements due to the difficulties created by monetary policy changes.
In March, the exchange extended the reporting period for 2018 full year results by a month, due to complexities created by monetary changes in October last year and in February this year.
And in May, it gave a free pass to listed firms that received adverse audit opinions on their results after resolving that “it was not the listed companies’ volition not to comply with the financial reporting standards but rather a matter of complying with the obtaining laws of the country”.
Under normal circumstances, an adverse audit opinion would be grounds for a company’s shares to be suspended from trading on the bourse.

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