Proposal on setting guidelines to register COVID-19 effects on Government Financial Reporting

The Task Force (the CIGAR network, the EGPA PSG XII, and the Accounting and Accountability SIG of the IRSPM) has come up with a note proposing Eurostat and IPSASB to set guidelines to register COVID-19 effects on Government Financial Reporting. As this is an unprecedented crisis that hits simultaneously all Member States in Europe, we suggest that it would be beneficial to adopt homogeneous criteria to keep track of the costs of all the measures taken and policy actions to tackle it. This information would be used later on as a basis for setting fiscal targets towards achieving normality with a pace that better fits the characteristics of the different countries. For the treatment, presentation and disclosure of this information recommended guidelines from ESA 2010, and specifically for the Excessive deficit procedure as defined by the Manual on Government Deficit and Debt, seem to be needed. In addition, recommended guidelines from IPSASB especially in relation to IPSAS 1 seem necessary and timely at this point.

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