Khimji Ramdas headquartered in Muscat. The Khimji Ramdas Group (KR) is an established business conglomerate in the Sultanate of Oman. Trusted and respected for more than a century (150 years), KR has consistently maintained its leadership position in the Consumer, Telecom, Infrastructure and Industrial arenas. The vision of Khimji Ramdas is to drive Oman to the forefront, through progressive business practice. The management always ensure the follow up of the vision of Khimji Ramdas. Out of many businesses, one of its most successful business in Oman is SPAR. It is a retail outlet with variety of consumer products. Majority of their goods are imported from European countries. These days COVID 19 is at its peak in European countries. SPAR is facing difficulty in importing goods to cater the needs of their customer. Muscat is under lock down and due to unavailability of goods at SPAR, the management is thinking to shut down their SPAR outlets or to send their employees on forced leaves. SPAR have reliable staff who have been working with them for several years. Staff working at SPAR are concerned about their health as well as jobs. Globally many businesses are facing crisis due to the current Pandemic. Worldwide trade has also been badly affected.

KR management is fully aware of the importance of a strong internal control system. The management continues to evaluate all business processes along with related policies and procedures and also implements the recommendations of the internal auditor to further augment the overall internal controls environment. The primary function of Internal control system is to provide independent assistance to the management in fulfilling their oversight responsibility to the shareholders, investors and other stakeholders. The ICS has to take care of the integrity of the companys financial statements, their financial reporting processes, the companys risk management, and to ensure the companys compliance with ethical, legal and regulatory requirements.

a. In your opinion, what necessary steps should be taken by the SPAR management to run the business in order to serve their clients and employees suffering due to Pandemic. What should be their strategy to compensate their loss in future?

b. What do you suggest the internal control units of Khimji Ramdas to take appropriate steps to tackle the expected financial crisis due to COVID 19?