Accounting for Your Company’s COVID-19 Costs

We all are going through an incredibly difficult time as we deal with the exceptional circumstances and unprecedented life-impacting anomalies associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  As a local telecommunications provider, you continue to be a pillar in your community as you ensure that your customers have access to vital communications services. This includes in many cases expanding voice and data services to your communities’ hospitals, schools, first responders, businesses and families.

No doubt your company is incurring significant, unplanned costs due to this pandemic. You’ve likely suspended disconnects for non-payment and are waiving late fees. You may be providing additional broadband speeds and capacity to your customers during a time that all of us are relying on those connections to the outside world. Maybe your company has even connected families with school-age children to broadband at no cost so that they can take part in distance learning. Plus, you’ve needed to incorporate additional safety precautions to keep your employees and customers safe from this dangerous virus.

Although maybe this isn’t top of mind right now, your company should be tracking these newly incurred costs. A tally of these unplanned expenses may be requested by state and federal officials in the future for potential recovery opportunities, tax purposes, etc. You’ll also want to be ready to look ahead at how these unplanned expenses will affect your strategic plans, forecasts, and any buildout and edge-out plans.

As always, JSI is here to help. If your accounting team needs help with the booking of these COVID-19 related costs or how these unplanned crisis expenses could affect your company’s bottom line, please contact your JSI consultant or Brian Sullivan at 240-556-1235. We stand with you during this difficult time and applaud you for your efforts to keep your communities connected. Let us know how we can help.