On 29 March next year the UK is scheduled to leave the EU. A large number of listed companies with 31 December year ends will be signing off on their financial statements around a month beforehand. Companies need to be planning ahead as to the impacts various Brexit scenarios might have on their 2018 financial statements. There has been a tendency to take a ‘wait and see’ approach, but given that the negotiations seem increasingly likely to go down to the wire, scenario planning becomes necessary to be prepared and so avoid delays in issuing the next cycle’s financial statements. What impacts will Brexit have on the numbers and the disclosures in their financial statements?

The UK government has published a series of no deal technical notices and these can provide a useful source of thinking of broader business impacts. The issues will vary by business sector and companies need to give wide consideration across their business model to the potential impacts. This article focuses on the financial statements, setting out some of the areas which should be considered.