CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN TIMES OF COVID-19
A lot of unprecedented challenges are being faced by corporations all around the globe. Most Indian Companies are seeing their revenue and profit getting impacted due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is now a fact that the companies cannot function normally in the current situation, therefore the company and governments shall be taking adequate actions in response to the ongoing pandemic.
Due to several lockdowns throughout the world, travel restrictions, social distancing, quarantine rules, Physical Meetings seem unreasonable and ill-timed. And it becomes the responsibility of the governments to make sure that these rules governed by them are relaxed.
For instance, In India, the ‘Ministry of Corporate affairs’ has allowed the companies to conduct the Annual General Meeting (AGM) through video conferencing mode. This has ensured that there is due diligence of companies that is not forgone and also the safety of all stakeholders is also taken care of.
MCA by its notification has also relaxed the last date for conducting Extraordinary General Meetings (EGM) which is upto 30th September 2020.
Annual audits are a statutory compliance which cannot be relaxed. Therefore, due the current ongoing pandemic, the companies will be opting for a hybrid mode of Auditing which would ensure minimal physical involvement in the Audits. All the necessary documents will be uploaded on the cloud for the financial audit.
Though this sounds convenient for the current situation, this leaves the company exposed to data breach. And this is a major concern for Intellectual Property Right (IPR) intensive companies. Therefore, the following measures shall be taken:-
With covid-19 crisis a lot of fundamental changes in customer behaviour, supply change and routes to companies are knocking companies off balance.
Because of this uncertain situation, it is necessary for companies to adopt agile ways of working and value chain transformation for the time-being.
