ZSE extends reporting period

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) yesterday extended companies’ financials publication deadline for the period ending December 31, 2018 by a month due to the delay of due guidance from the Public Accountants and Auditors Board (PAAB).

Following the pronouncements of the monetary policies, in October 2018 and February 2019, there has been discussion around the reporting currency and the functional currency amongst the accounting profession.

The market is expecting PAAB to give guidance on this matter as auditors are unable to sign-off
accounts in the absence of guidance from PAAB.

“Due to the delay in release of the guidance, the ZSE has observed that issuers with December year-ends are unable to release audited results by March 31, 2019 as required.

“As a result, the ZSE in consultation with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe has granted a blanket waiver of one month for all affected issuers to publish their 2018 audited results,” Justin Bgoni, ZSE’s chief executive said in a statement.

“The ZSE hereby notifies issuers of the extension of the deadline, from March 31, 2019 to April 30, 2019, for publication of December 31, 2018 audited financial results for all affected issuers.

“The announcement has been made with the expectation that the release of the PAAB guidance is imminent,” he said.

This comes as the recently-introduced monetary measures, which include the ring-fencing of FCAs and RTGS accounts as well as the denomination and floatation RTGS$, have brought with them a number of unintended consequences for businesses that include contractual and financial reporting challenges.

This is despite the fact government has tried to clarify the accounting issues through Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019, but some companies such as TSL Limited have either withheld their results or are continuing to report in American dollars as well as encountering problems since the PAAB has delayed in issuing guidelines.

On its part, the institution also seems to be struggling with the new market complexities.

Meanwhile, results recently released by Old Mutual show that the company calculated its own exchange rate in its treatment of figures from its Zimbabwe unit.

“We delivered adjusted headline earnings of $796 000, a decrease of 11 percent compared to the prior period,” the company said in its results recently.

“The primary cause of this was the lower RFO, lower investment income in South Africa as a result of weaker equity markets and in Zimbabwe, the change in functional currency in the fourth quarter,” it said. DailyNews