According to Deloitte, the Olympics have the potential to disrupt the financial close of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. The audit firma suggests that companies have not yet considered the impact the Games may have, primarily through staff absence, on the financial reporting process.
Companies with 30 June and December year ends are most susceptible. Deloitte says that the average time for a business to report to market after the year end is just over 60 days which places a 30 June year end slap in the middle of the 2012 Olypmpics and ParaOlympics whci run between 27th July and 16th August. At this point in time many companies will be finalising their results and putting through group adjustments. Similarly companies with a 31st December 2011 year end will be preparing interim statements. (the average time for an FTSE 100 company to announce interim results is 38 days, i.e. up to 7th August).
Deloitte is urging companies to think about the issue now in order to put in measures to accelerate the close to avoid the peak period of the Olympics.
There is also the wider issue of how the Olympics will affect the businesses’ ability to deliver products and services.
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