In recognition of the effect of the economic lockdown across major cities in the country due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has announced the extension of the timeframe for the submission of 2019 audited financial statements of banks and other financial institutions (OFIs).
This was disclosed in a letter to OFIs that was signed by CBN’s Director of Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Nkiru Asiegbu, as seen by Nairametrics.
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In the letter, which was dated April 30th, 2020, the CBN extended the timeframe for submission of its audited financial statement by 3 months to July 31st, 2020, as against the initial timeframe of April 31st, 2020.
The decision by the apex bank is in recognition of the fact that the lockdown of most of the cities in the country and movement restrictions have seriously affected the operations of the external auditors and all other financial institutions across the country. Part of the letter said:
“Pursuant to the provisions of section 27 (1) (a) of BOFIA, all the banks and OFIs are required to forward the audited financial statements of each financial year to the CBN for approval before the end of the fourth month following the year to which they relate. Accordingly, the 2019 Audited Financial Statements should have reached the CBN on or before April 30, 2020.
“However, we have observed that the lockdown of most cities in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic has restricted the engagement of External Auditors and the daily operations of all OFIs across the country.
“Therefore, the deadline for submission has been extended by three months. For the avoidance of doubt, all Other Financial Institutions are required to submit the 2019 Audited Financial Statements on or before July 31, 2020.”
The CBN also threatened to sanction defaulters as they would monitor the compliance to the extended date.
