COVID-19 Disclosure Review: CSA Find Room For Improvement

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) publish results of their issue-oriented COVID-19 disclosure review and provide guidance with respect to areas of concern. 

• The CSA's review of reporting issuers' COVID-19 disclosures notes areas where boiler-plate disclosure about the current and expected impact of COVID-19 failed to address detailed entity-specific COVID-19 related risks and impacts.
• Issuers are reminded that disclosure is expected to be transparent and balanced in order to facilitate a meaningful understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the issuers' business, both from a financial and operational perspective.

On February 25, 2021, the CSA published CSA Staff Notice 51-362 Staff Review of COVID-19 Disclosures and Guide for Disclosure Improvements (the Staff Notice) which sets out the results of the CSA's recent continuous disclosure review, which specifically focused on disclosure related to the impact of COVID-19 on approximately