ATLANTIC AMERICAN CORP 10-Q

Item 4. Controls and Procedures Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) reports is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management necessarily applies its judgment in assessing the costs and benefits of such controls and procedures, which, by their nature, can provide only reasonable assurance regarding management’s control objectives. The Company’s management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures can prevent all possible errors or fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. There are inherent limitations in all control systems, including the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple errors or mistakes. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the intentional acts of one or more persons. The design of any system of controls is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and, while our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to be effective under circumstances where they should reasonably be expected to operate effectively, there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Because of the inherent limitations in any control system, misstatements due to possible errors or fraud may occur and may not be detected. As of the end of the period covered by this report, an evaluation was performed under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act). Based on that evaluation, management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of that date due to a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting described below. Remediation of Material Weakness in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting Management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company. The Company’s internal control over financial reporting system has been designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Management recognizes that there are inherent limitations in the effectiveness of any internal control system. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect all misstatements. Furthermore, the application of any evaluations of effectiveness on future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. As previously disclosed in Part II, Item 9A. “Controls and Procedures” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, we identified certain deficiencies in internal control that we believe rise to the level of a material weakness. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, management determined that the design of the controls surrounding the process of reviewing insurance reserves and deferred acquisition costs within the Company’s life and health segment was not effective. This deficiency in design did not enable the timely detection of anomalies in these values at the level of precision necessary to detect misstated values that may be material. Notwithstanding these deficiencies, management believes that, as a result of the actions taken by management to address and correct these deficiencies prior to the completion and filing of the relevant periodic reports for those periods, and the effective operation of other internal controls over financial reporting, the material weakness did not result in any identified material misstatements to our financial statements. As a result, there were no changes to any of our previously-released financial statements. The Company is currently in the process of remediating the material weakness as described above, which remediation efforts began in the quarter ended March 31, 2024 and continued through the quarter ended June 30, 2024, and include developing and implementing enhanced controls related to the review of values that are estimated using actuarial models. The enhancements include implementing reviews at the product level where management evaluates, for each of the Company’s life and health products, the components of underwriting income and how they interrelate. In addition, calculations that are independent from the actuarial models will, once fully developed, validate that the product parameters and actuarial assumptions are completely and accurately reflected within the actuarial models. The Company has also initiated the development of an array of analytical reports that will help facilitate the timely detection of anomalous values within the Company’s life and health segment. It is currently expected that these reports will be operational by September 30, 2024. These reports will include reconciliations of actuarial values from quarter to quarter, utilizing values estimated via the actuarial models and values that are produced by accounting processes. Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting Other than the remediation efforts described above, there were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended June 30, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. 27 Table of Contents PART II. OTHER INFORMATION