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SEC : une réponse à sa consultation sur la divulgation en matière de risque COVID-19

Ivan Tchotourian 4 juillet 2020 Ivan Tchotourian

Par la voix de Carter Dougherty, l’Americans for Financial Reform a adressé sa réponse à la SEC à propos de la divulgation obligatoire du risque COVID-19 : « SEC Should Mandate Disclosures on COVID-19 Risks and Responses » (1er juillet 2020).

Extrait :

The impact of the losses on shareholders will be significant. Investors, however, are being forced to rely on news reports to try to understand how the crisis is impacting companies in their portfolios and how those companies are responding. The SEC must act to require companies to provide consistent, reliable data to investors about the economic impact of the pandemic on their business, human capital management practices, and supply chain risks. These disclosures should include:

• Workplace COVID-19 Prevention and Control Plan—Companies should disclose a written infectious disease prevention and control plan including information such as the company’s practices regarding hazard identification and assessment, employee training, and provision of personal protective equipment.
• Identification, Contact Tracing, and Isolation—Companies should disclose their policies for identifying employees who are infected or symptomatic, contact tracing and notification for potentially exposed employees and customers, and leave policies for infected employees who are isolating.
• Compliance with Quarantine Orders and phased reopening orders—Companies should disclose how they are complying with federal, state, and local government quarantine orders and public health recommendations to limit operations.
• Financial Implications—Companies should disclose the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their cash flows and balance sheet as well as steps taken to preserve liquidity such as accessing credit facilities, government assistance, or the suspension of dividends and stock buybacks.
• Executive Compensation—Companies should promptly disclose the rationale for any material modifications of senior executive compensation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including changes to performance targets or issuance of new equity compensation awards.
• Employee Leave—Companies should disclose whether or not they provide paid sick leave to encourage sick workers to stay home, paid leave for quarantined workers, paid leave at any temporarily closed facilities, and family leave options to provide for childcare or sick family
• Health Insurance—Companies should disclose the health insurance coverage ratio of their workforce and whether the company has a policy to provide employer-paid health insurance for any employees who are laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Contingent Workers—Companies should disclose if part-time employees, temporary workers, independent contractors, and subcontracted workers receive all the protections and benefits provided to full-time company employees, including those outlined above.
• Supply Chains-Companies should disclose whether they are current on payments to their supply chain vendors. Timely and prompt payments to suppliers will help retain suppliers’ workforces and ensure that a stable supply chain is in place for business operations going forward.
• Workers’ Rights-Companies should disclose their policies for protecting employees who raise concerns about workplace health and safety from retaliation, including whistleblower protections and contractual provisions protecting workers’ rights to raise concerns about workplace conditions.
• Political activity—Companies should disclose all election spending and lobbying activity, especially money spent through third parties like trade associations and social welfare 501(c)4 organizations.

Prior to the onset of COVID-19, it was often argued that human rights, worker protection and supply chain matters were moral issues not relevant to a company’s financial performance. As millions of workers are laid off and supply chains unravel, the pandemic has proven that view wrong. Businesses that protect workers and consumers will be better positioned to continue operations and respond to consumer demand throughout the pandemic. The disclosures outlined above will provide investors with important information to help them understand how COVID-19 is impacting the companies they are invested in. In addition, by requiring these disclosures, the Commission has the opportunity to encourage companies to review their current practices and consider whether updates are necessary in light of recent events. The process of preparing these disclosures may help some public companies to recognize that their current practices are not sufficiently robust to protect their workers, consumers, supply chains and, as a result, their investors’ capital given the impact of the pandemic.

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Divulgation divulgation financière Gouvernance Normes d'encadrement

COVID-19 et comptabilité créative : un risque ?

Ivan Tchotourian 20 mai 2020 Ivan Tchotourian

Dominique Lemoine du MÉDAC offre une belle synthèse de ce qu’il nomme l’« Éclosion de comptabilité créative pandémique ».

Extrait :

En période de crise, la vigilance des actionnaires est d’autant plus nécessaire en matière de recours par des entreprises à des termes et à des ajustements comptables non généralement reconnus.

Selon un article du Financial Times, des émetteurs commencent à utiliser dans leurs divulgations d’états financiers des mesures de performance plus flatteuses qui excluent l’impact de la pandémie.

Par exemple, en plus du terme reconnu EBITDA auquel les actionnaires ont été habitués, qui est présenté comme étant une mesure des résultats financiers avant intérêts, impôts, dotations et amortissements, l’indicateur EBITDAC est désormais servi à des actionnaires et à des investisseurs pour présenter des résultats qui excluent l’impact du coronavirus sur les rendements.

Selon le Financial Times, le groupe manufacturier allemand Schenck Process a ainsi ajouté 5,4 millions d’euros à ses profits du premier trimestre 2020, en prétendant que ces profits auraient été obtenus si les États n’avaient pas imposé de confinements, ce qui lui permet de brandir une hausse de 20 %, plutôt qu’une baisse de 16 % par rapport au premier trimestre 2019.

Noyer le poisson

Un problème avec ce vernis, selon un observateur dont les propos sont rapportés par le Financial Times, relève de la difficulté, voire de l’impossibilité, de distinguer quantitativement les pertes de revenus qui sont véritablement liées à la pandémie, des revenus qui ont tout simplement été perdus aux mains de concurrents ou encore pour des raisons réglementaires.

Par ailleurs, une note de recherche, citée dans l’infolettre DealBook du New York Times, laisse entendre que des entreprises pourraient considérer la crise et la pandémie comme étant une opportunité pour divulguer d’un seul coup un ensemble de dépenses qui ne sont pas nécessairement liées à la pandémie, de manière à en obscurcir ou en camoufler les véritables causes.

Selon DealBook, les ajustements comptables dans les divulgations financières d’entreprises, dont l’EBITDA, « tendent à exclure toutes formes de dépenses malcommodes ».