ADVISORY TO SMALL AND MEDIUM PRACTITIONERS (SMPs) ON COPING WITHEFFECTS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN KENYA

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
It has spread from Wuhan China to many other countries around the world, including our
country Kenya. Covid-19 has affected all aspects of daily life, including travel, trade, tourism,
food supplies, and financial markets.
As the world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, our country is equally struggling to
deal with the consequences it comes along with.
Bon & Drew Associates commend ICPAK for the robust proposals made to the government of
Kenya on how it can deal with the effects of the pandemic, especially in economic front to
ensure our economy does not grind to a halt. While all these are laudable efforts, audit and
accounting practitioners seem to grope in the dark on how to deal with this new and
unforeseen challenge.
Kenya has about 800 licensed Audit firms. These audit firms are managed by about 2,500
members of ICPAK with practice licenses. These firms collectively employ thousands more in
various positions. Majority of these audit firms are small or medium in size and will not survive
a prolonged slowdown or lockdown of the economy which is will most likely hit the SME’s
hardest. The SME’s happen to be the target clients for SMP’s.
Audit firms have varied capabilities of dealing with the effects of the slowdown and possible
lockdown of the economy