Going Concern Concept Guide to Going Concern Concept with Examples

Rather than using the term substantial doubt, consider describing conditions (e.g., cash flows are not sufficient to meet obligations) and management plans to alleviate substantial doubt. Under US GAAP, plans must be approved before the financial statements are issued (or available to be issued), and management needs to demonstrate that it is probable the plans will be timely and successfully implemented, mitigating the conditions and events that raised the substantial doubt. US GAAP includes a two-step process that first determines whether substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern is raised. If substantial doubt is raised, management then assesses whether that substantial doubt is alleviated by management’s plans. Unlike IFRS Standards, if substantial doubt is raised in Step 1 about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, the extent of disclosure depends on the outcome of Step 2 and whether that doubt is alleviated by management’s plans.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a turbulent economy have affected how organizations are conducting business. Here are some ways Audit Committees can support the Chief Audit Executive and improve the internal audit function’s success while supporting oversight. However, liquidating a company means laying off all of its employees, and if the company is viable, this can have negative ramifications not only for the laid-off workers but also for the investor who made the decision to liquidate a healthy company. Liquidating a going concern can give an investor a bad reputation among potential future takeover targets.

Going Concern Auditing Standard

This differs from the value that would be realized if its assets were liquidated—the liquidation value—because an ongoing operation has the ability to continue to earn a profit, which contributes to its value. A company should always be considered a going concern unless there is a good reason to believe that it will be going out of business. US GAAP requires management’s plans to meet certain conditions to be considered in the assessment. In-depth analysis, examples and insights to give you an advantage in understanding the requirements and implications of financial reporting issues. A firm’s inability to meet its obligations without substantial restructuring or selling of assets may also indicate it is not a going concern. If a company acquires assets during a time of restructuring, it may plan to resell them later.

• In severe cases, management will need to assess whether the going concern assumption is still appropriate as a basis for the preparation of the company’s financial statements.
• SAS 132 amends SAS 126, The Auditor’s Consideration of an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern.
• Although the terminology varies slightly, both GAAPs share the same objective of informing users of the financial statements early about the company’s potential financial difficulties.
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• In both cases a paragraph explaining the basis for the qualified or adverse opinion will be included after the opinion paragraph and the opinion paragraph will be qualified ‘except for’ or express an adverse opinion.

Management must also identify the basis in which the financial statements are prepared and often disclose these financial reports with an audit report with a going concern opinion. Accounting standards try to determine what a company should disclose on its financial statements if there are doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern. In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board determined financial statements should reveal the conditions that support an entity’s substantial doubt that it can continue as a going concern. Statements should also show management’s interpretation of the conditions and management’s future plans. Continuation of an entity as a going concern is presumed as the basis for financial reporting unless and until the entity’s liquidation becomes imminent.

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It will also state that the auditor’s opinion is not modified in respect of this matter. When faced with such a requirement, candidates must be careful not to produce a list of generic audit procedures, but instead identify and highlight the factors from the scenario that may call into question the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern. Once these factors have been identified, candidates should then be able to think about the procedures the auditor may adopt to establish whether the factors mean the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate in the circumstances, or not.

The auditor evaluates an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period not less than one year following the date of the financial statements being audited (a longer period may be considered if the auditor believes such extended period to be relevant). The auditor considers such items as negative trends in operating results, loan defaults, denial of trade credit from suppliers uneconomical long-term commitments, https://turbo-tax.org/change-without-notice/ and legal proceedings in deciding if there is a substantial doubt about an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern. If so, the auditor must draw attention to the uncertainty regarding the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern, in their auditor’s report. Separate standards and guidance have been issued by the Auditing Practices Board to address the work of auditors in relation to going concern.

What is the Going Concern Accounting Definition?

The going-concern value of a company is typically much higher than its liquidation value because it includes intangible assets and customer loyalty as well as any potential for future returns. The liquidation value of a company will even be lower than the value of the company’s tangible assets, because the company may have to sell off its tangible assets at a discount—often, a deep discount—in order to liquidate them before ceasing operations. Examples of tangible assets that might be sold at a loss include equipment, unsold inventory, real estate, vehicles, patents, and other intellectual property (IP), furniture, and fixtures. In addition to IAS 1, IFRS 79 requires disclosure of information about the significance of financial instruments to a company, and the nature and extent of risks arising from those financial instruments, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. Disclosures addressing these requirements may need to be expanded, with added focus on the company’s response to the effects of COVID-19.

Because the US GAAP guidance is more developed in this area, it may provide certain useful reference points for IFRS Standards preparers – e.g. to identify adverse conditions and events or to assess the mitigating effects of management’s plans. However, dual reporters should be mindful of the differing frameworks, terminologies and potentially different outcomes in their going concern conclusions. Our IFRS Standards resources will help you to better understand the potential accounting and disclosure implications of COVID-19 for your company, and the actions management can take now. Disclosures of material uncertainties that may cast doubt on a company’s ability to continue as a going concern as well as significant judgments involved in close-call scenarios may be more frequent as a result of COVID-19, given the continued economic uncertainty.

What is the role of a financial auditor?

Listing the value of long-term assets may indicate a company plans to sell these assets. Accountants use going concern principles to decide what types of reporting should appear on financial statements. Companies that are a going concern may defer reporting long-term assets at current value or liquidating value, but rather at cost. A company remains a going concern when the sale of assets does not impair its ability to continue operation, such as the closure of a small branch office that reassigns the employees to other departments within the company. It’s given when an auditor has no concerns about the financial statements of a business or its ability to operate in the future. The going concern concept is not clearly defined anywhere in generally accepted accounting principles, and so is subject to a considerable amount of interpretation regarding when an entity should report it.

The decision to become a public company involves consideration of various advantages, disadvantages, costs, and more. Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity started off strong in 2022 but by the end of the year tailed off significantly and was slow to start 2023, however, activity is expected to potentially pick back up as 2023 progresses. Improving business performance, turning risk and compliance into opportunities, developing strategies and enhancing value are at the core of what we do for leading organizations. Once you have viewed this piece of content, to ensure you can access the content most relevant to you, please confirm your territory. These materials were downloaded from PwC’s Viewpoint (viewpoint.pwc.com) under license. A going concern is often good as it means a company is more likely than not to survive for the next year.