Accounting for Covid-19 from International Accountant Magazine

Steve Collings examines the accounting treatment of grants received in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

As businesses continue to deal with the significant level of disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, HMRC has now started to send payments out to employers in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for employees that have been furloughed. For self-employed individuals, it is expected that the self-employed income support scheme will be up and running from the middle of May 2020.

This article examines the accounting treatment in respect of grants received in respect of the CJRS and the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme, together with the disclosure requirements under UK GAAP.

Grants received from HMRC for furloughed employees

Employers who have furloughed employees will have been claiming the 80% grant available from HMRC. Many businesses have now received these grants and, in terms of the accounting treatment, there are a couple of points that need to be considered where the financial statements are concerned.

FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland deals with government grants in Government Grants s 24. FRS 102 para 24.3A states that government grants cannot be recognised in the financial statements until there is reasonable assurance that:

Employers who have furloughed employees will have been claiming the 80% grant available from HMRC. A couple of points must be considered where the financial statements are concerned.

a) the entity will comply with the conditions attaching to them; and b) the grants will be received.

Once the recognition criteria has been met, FRS 102 para 24.5E states:

“A grant that becomes receivable as compensation for expenses or losses already incurred or for the purpose of giving immediate financial support to the entity with no future related costs shall be recognised in income in the period in which it becomes receivable.”

Accounting for Covid-19

The relevant accounting policy in respect of the grant will then be applied. This will either be the “performance model” (FRS 102 para 24.5B) or the “accrual model” (FRS 102 paras 24.5C to 24.5G). Where the CJRS is concerned, recognition of the grant in the financial statements is likely to be the same under both models; i.e. it will be recognised immediately in profit and loss.

The grant in respect of furloughed employees must be presented as income within profit or loss. This can be done either separately as “Grant income” or “Government grant” or within the heading “Sundry income”. The grant cannot be offset against the payroll expense (or any other expense) in profit or loss because this is prohibited in company law. The Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 Sch 1 para 8 states:

“Amounts in respect of items representing assets or income may not be offset against amounts in respect of items representing liabilities or expenditure (as the case may be), or vice versa.”

The above restriction is also the same for small companies in The Small Companies and Groups (Accounts and Directors’ Reports) Regulations 2008 para 8.

Disclosure requirements

Non-small entities FRS 102 para 24.6 requires an entity to disclose the following: a) the accounting policy adopted for grants in accordance with para 24.4 (i.e. the performance model or the accrual model); b) the nature and amounts of grants recognised in the financial statements; c) unfulfilled conditions and other contingencies attaching to grants that have been recognised in income; and d) an indication of other forms of government assistance from which the entity has directly benefited.

Small entities choosing to report under FRS 102 s 1A A small entity choosing to report under FRS 102 s 1A is not required to apply the above disclosure requirements and there are no specific disclosure requirements in s 1A for small companies where government grants are concerned.

However, there is still a requirement for the directors to ensure that the financial statements give a true and fair view, so potentially there may be some disclosures made in respect of the grants received if the directors view this as necessary to enable a true and fair view to be presented.

Micro-entities For micro-entities choosing to report under FRS 105 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the Micro-entities Regime, there are no specific disclosure requirements.

Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay RebateScheme

For payments received by an entity from HMRC in respect of the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme, the same accounting treatment as above will apply. ●