1. OVERVIEW	12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
OVERVIEW	NOTE 1 OVERVIEW Business Forward Industries, Inc. is a fully integrated design, development and manufacturing solution provider for top tier medical and technology customers worldwide. Through its acquisitions of IPS and Kablooe, the Company has expanded its ability to design and develop solutions for our existing multinational client base and expand beyond the diabetic product line into a variety of industries with a full spectrum of hardware and software product design and engineering services. In addition to our existing design and distribution of carry and protective solutions, primarily for handheld electronic devices, the Company is now a one-stop shop for design, development and manufacturing solutions serving a wide range of clients in the industrial, commercial and consumer industries. The Company’s previous principal customer market has been original equipment manufacturers, or “OEMs” (or the contract manufacturing firms of these OEM customers), that either package our products as accessories “in box” together with their branded product offerings or sell them through their retail distribution channels. The Company’s OEM products include carrying cases and other accessories for medical monitoring and diagnostic kits and a variety of other portable electronic and non-electronic products (such as sporting and recreational products, bar code scanners, smartphones, GPS location devices, tablets and firearms). The Company’s OEM customers are located in: (i) the Asia-Pacific region, which we refer to as the “APAC Region”; (ii) Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, which we refer to as the “EMEA Region”; and (iii) the geographic area encompassing North America, Central America and South America, which we refer to as the “Americas”. The Company does not manufacture any of its OEM products and sources substantially all of its OEM products from independent suppliers in China, through Forward Industries Asia-Pacific Corporation, a British Virgin Islands corporation (“Forward China”), See Note 14. As a result of the expansion of the design development capabilities through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, IPS and Kablooe, the Company is now able to introduce proprietary products to the market from concepts brought to it from a number of different sources, both inside and outside the Company. Within this report, certain dollar amounts and percentages have been rounded to their approximate values. Impact of COVID-19 The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in China and its subsequent spread throughout the world has impacted our Fiscal 2020 results of operations. In efforts to contain the virus, authorities have implemented travel restrictions, quarantines, business limitations and shutdowns. Since the majority of our workforce is based in New York, these restrictions have required substantially all our employees to work from home for much of Fiscal 2020. During the third quarter of Fiscal 2020, productivity of our direct labor employees was reduced, which caused a decline in revenue and gross profit. As some of these restrictions were relaxed in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2020, employees started to return to the office with minimal operational challenges. Business shutdowns resulting from the pandemic disrupted our supply chain and the manufacture or shipment of our products and have delayed the rollout of our smart enabled retail products to big box retail stores, causing our distribution segment revenues in Fiscal 2020 to be less than anticipated. Additionally, our design segment reported lower revenues as demand for its design and development services were reduced or delayed. The impact from lower revenue was partially offset by a reduction in certain selling and travel related expenses resulting from government mandated stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions as well as revenues derived from sales and sourcing of personal protective equipment. The pandemic had temporarily impacted our liquidity in Fiscal 2020, as collections of accounts receivable were somewhat delayed at certain times. The economy started to open in certain jurisdictions where the virus was considered under control. However, there continue to be areas with increased rates of infection that could cause government officials to enact more restrictions on how businesses operate. The future impacts of the pandemic and any resulting economic impact are largely unknown and could be significant. It is possible that the pandemic, the measures taken by the governments of countries affected and the resulting economic impact may negatively impact our results of operations, cash flows and financial position in future periods as well as that of our customers, including their ability to pay for our services and choosing to allocate their budgets to new or existing projects which require our services. The long-term financial impact on our business cannot be reasonably estimated at this time. As a result, the effects of COVID-19 may not be fully reflected in our financial results until future periods. Refer to “Part I, Item 1A — Risk Factors” in this Annual Report for a description of the material risks that the Company currently faces in connection with COVID-19. As a result of revenue and earnings shortfalls in the second quarter of Fiscal 2020, due in part to COVID-19 and the related future uncertainty, the Company revised revenue and operational projections for IPS for the later part of Fiscal 2020 and future periods. These events impacted the carrying value of goodwill (see Note 4). Until there is a vaccine and treatment that is widely distributed, we expect business conditions to remain challenging. In response to these challenges, we will continue to focus on those factors that we can control: closely managing and controlling our expenses; aligning our design and development schedules with demand in a proactive manner as there are changes in market conditions to minimize our cash operating costs; and pursuing further improvements in the productivity and effectiveness of our development, selling and administrative activities.

1. OVERVIEW

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

NOTE 1 OVERVIEW

Business

Forward Industries, Inc. is a fully integrated design, development and manufacturing solution provider for top tier medical and technology customers worldwide. Through its acquisitions of IPS and Kablooe, the Company has expanded its ability to design and develop solutions for our existing multinational client base and expand beyond the diabetic product line into a variety of industries with a full spectrum of hardware and software product design and engineering services. In addition to our existing design and distribution of carry and protective solutions, primarily for handheld electronic devices, the Company is now a one-stop shop for design, development and manufacturing solutions serving a wide range of clients in the industrial, commercial and consumer industries. The Company’s previous principal customer market has been original equipment manufacturers, or “OEMs” (or the contract manufacturing firms of these OEM customers), that either package our products as accessories “in box” together with their branded product offerings or sell them through their retail distribution channels. The Company’s OEM products include carrying cases and other accessories for medical monitoring and diagnostic kits and a variety of other portable electronic and non-electronic products (such as sporting and recreational products, bar code scanners, smartphones, GPS location devices, tablets and firearms). The Company’s OEM customers are located in: (i) the Asia-Pacific region, which we refer to as the “APAC Region”; (ii) Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, which we refer to as the “EMEA Region”; and (iii) the geographic area encompassing North America, Central America and South America, which we refer to as the “Americas”. The Company does not manufacture any of its OEM products and sources substantially all of its OEM products from independent suppliers in China, through Forward Industries Asia-Pacific Corporation, a British Virgin Islands corporation (“Forward China”), See Note 14.

As a result of the expansion of the design development capabilities through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, IPS and Kablooe, the Company is now able to introduce proprietary products to the market from concepts brought to it from a number of different sources, both inside and outside the Company.

Within this report, certain dollar amounts and percentages have been rounded to their approximate values.

Impact of COVID-19

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in China and its subsequent spread throughout the world has impacted our Fiscal 2020 results of operations. In efforts to contain the virus, authorities have implemented travel restrictions, quarantines, business limitations and shutdowns. Since the majority of our workforce is based in New York, these restrictions have required substantially all our employees to work from home for much of Fiscal 2020. During the third quarter of Fiscal 2020, productivity of our direct labor employees was reduced, which caused a decline in revenue and gross profit. As some of these restrictions were relaxed in the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2020, employees started to return to the office with minimal operational challenges. Business shutdowns resulting from the pandemic disrupted our supply chain and the manufacture or shipment of our products and have delayed the rollout of our smart enabled retail products to big box retail stores, causing our distribution segment revenues in Fiscal 2020 to be less than anticipated. Additionally, our design segment reported lower revenues as demand for its design and development services were reduced or delayed. The impact from lower revenue was partially offset by a reduction in certain selling and travel related expenses resulting from government mandated stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions as well as revenues derived from sales and sourcing of personal protective equipment. The pandemic had temporarily impacted our liquidity in Fiscal 2020, as collections of accounts receivable were somewhat delayed at certain times.

The economy started to open in certain jurisdictions where the virus was considered under control. However, there continue to be areas with increased rates of infection that could cause government officials to enact more restrictions on how businesses operate. The future impacts of the pandemic and any resulting economic impact are largely unknown and could be significant. It is possible that the pandemic, the measures taken by the governments of countries affected and the resulting economic impact may negatively impact our results of operations, cash flows and financial position in future periods as well as that of our customers, including their ability to pay for our services and choosing to allocate their budgets to new or existing projects which require our services. The long-term financial impact on our business cannot be reasonably estimated at this time. As a result, the effects of COVID-19 may not be fully reflected in our financial results until future periods. Refer to “Part I, Item 1A — Risk Factors” in this Annual Report for a description of the material risks that the Company currently faces in connection with COVID-19.

As a result of revenue and earnings shortfalls in the second quarter of Fiscal 2020, due in part to COVID-19 and the related future uncertainty, the Company revised revenue and operational projections for IPS for the later part of Fiscal 2020 and future periods. These events impacted the carrying value of goodwill (see Note 4). Until there is a vaccine and treatment that is widely distributed, we expect business conditions to remain challenging. In response to these challenges, we will continue to focus on those factors that we can control: closely managing and controlling our expenses; aligning our design and development schedules with demand in a proactive manner as there are changes in market conditions to minimize our cash operating costs; and pursuing further improvements in the productivity and effectiveness of our development, selling and administrative activities.