It is not unusual for a board to face difficult decisions, balancing financial, legal and ethical issues. However, it is unheard of for so many boardrooms to be confronted simultaneously by acute dilemmas all created by the same cause. Directors and executives face highly sensitive decisions in navigating their enterprises through the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. Decisions taken now could come under scrutiny with hindsight, and these extraordinary circumstances create the potential for future litigation and regulatory intervention. Corporate decisions need to factor in how decisions will look in the future as much as the current justification for them.
