KISS DU & IAA organizes National Webinar on ‘COVID – 19: Corporate Reporting & Disclosures’

The Department of Tribal Resource Management of KISS Deemed to be University in collaboration with Indian Accounting Association (IAA), Bhubaneswar Branch organized a National Webinar on ‘Covid – 19: Corporate Reporting & Disclosures’ on 17th August, 2020. Besides India, there were participants from Nepal, Bahrain, Indonesia, Myanmar and Philippines that gave it the face of an international academic event.

Addressing the inaugural session, Prof. Ranjan Kumar Bal, President Indian Accounting Association, Bhubaneswar Branch said that the reporting has been changed from numbers to narratives. He elucidated the role of digital technology in reporting and underlined the need for innovations and preparation of a future ready workforce.

Prof. G. Soral, President, IAA, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur said, “KISS is doing a legendary work by training human resources as part of a true CSR initiative”. IOSC and SBI have issued advisory on fair, high quality and timely reporting, he added.

At the outset, Prof. Harekrishna Satapathy, Vice-Chancellor, KISS (DU) welcomed the esteemed speakers and participants. Introducing the subject, he highlighted its contextual relevance to KISS. Prof. Satapathy shared the rationale behind choosing such a topic. Commenting on the impact of Covid – 19, he said, “Pandemic has broken the economic backbone of the country, be it public or private sector”. Dr. Snigdharani Panda proposed the vote of thanks for the inaugural session.

The inaugural session was followed by a panel discussion, which was moderated by Dr. Rabindra Kumar Swain, General Secretary, IAA, Bhubaneswar Branch.

Prof. V. Appa Rao, Professor, Department of Commerce, Osmania University described the various sectors badly hit by the pandemic. “Increase in economic uncertainties and risk may have insignificant financial reporting implications. Listed companies should constitute a committee of the Board to make urgent decisions on behalf of the Board to respond to emergency situations and companies that are typically cautioned to limit their forward-looking disclosures”, he remarked.

“Languages are very important while uploading data on various portals and adopting artificial intelligence and technology has become the need of the hour”, said Prof. Ashish Kumar Sana, Department of Commerce, University of Calcutta.

Dr. Ashis Nag, Central University of Himachal Pradesh discussed how the virus has taken a toll not just on human life, but business and financial markets also. Entities need to carefully consider the accounting implications of this situation. Adding to the uncertainty, the situation is constantly changing.

Prof. (Dr.) Ravinder Rena, Professor of Economics and Internationalization Project Leader, North-West University Business School, Republic of South Africa also took part in the webinar and placed his valuable remarks on the theme.

The panel discussion was followed by a stimulating question answer session. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Prashanta Kumar Routray, Registrar, KISS (DU), aptly summed up the opinions and suggested the takeaways for the participants.

The webinar, attended by over 500 participants, was organized and coordinated by Dr. Snigdharani Panda, Associate Dean, School of Resource Management, KISS (DU).