Crisis management and response
Existing business continuity plans may not be capable of handling the fast-moving and unknown variables of an outbreak like COVID-19.
What you can do now:
Develop incident management and scenario plans that are specific to this crisis
Focus on factually and effectively communicating to stakeholders
Plan on how to meet government priorities in individual countries and minimise the risk of business disruptions
Workforce
Beyond human welfare, there are other people challenges to tackle, including how to support remote working at scale.
What you can do now:
Attend to immediate global mobility concerns, such as reviewing travel rules, HR policies, first-aid plans
Assess remote working strategy, including asking employees to temporarily stop work or work remotely or relocate
Address strains on a firm’s existing information technology and communications infrastructure in order to support remote working during the crisis
Operations and supply chain
The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are difficult to model and assess, but global businesses can begin to mitigate supply chain distributions.
What you can do now:
Identify alternative supply chain scenarios — especially as new cases of the virus emerge in different territories
Activate pre-approved parts or raw-material substitutions
Adapt allocations to customers and pricing strategies
Finance and liquidity
Financial markets often watch how companies plan for and respond to events like the COVID-19 pandemic.
What you can do now:
Consider disclosures related to direct effects on the results of operations, as well as second- and third-order effects
Think about disclosures related to risks and uncertainties about the impact of COVID-19 on future periods
Assess disclosures on the current and future impact on liquidity and capital resources
Tax and trade
More agile tax models are needed in the face of global uncertainties to allow the tax function to effectively provide critical inputs in business decisions.
What you can do now:
Effectively manage cash taxes through minimising taxable income, obtaining available refunds and reducing required tax payments
Consider actions to stabilise supply chains while bracing for an unpredictable revenue and profitability mix in key markets
Assess the resources your company needs to meet your ongoing indirect and direct tax compliance requirements, imposed by the various taxing authorities
Explore opportunities focused on becoming more flexible in responding to arising uncertainties
Strategy and brand
As companies move from reacting to mitigating the impact of the outbreak, strategies to emerge stronger may come in focus.
What you can do now:
Consider accelerating digital transformations as the shift to remote working reveals gaps in IT infrastructure, workforce planning and digital upskilling
Protect growth and profitability through actions such as scenario planning, more frequent financial modeling exercises to improve resiliency, and new models that incorporate economic impacts of past pandemics
Take the pulse of your customers, thinking through longer-term considerations around shifts in core markets or business models as a result of the pandemic
