Item 4. Controls and Procedures
ITEM
4.
CONTROLS
AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation
of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our
management, with the participation of our CEO and CFO, has evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure
controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Based on this evaluation, our CEO
and CFO concluded that, due to the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as described in our Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of June 30, 2024.
As
noted in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, we employ a decentralized internal control methodology,
coupled with management’s oversight, whereby our subsidiary is responsible for mitigating its risks to financial reporting by implementing
and maintaining effective control policies and procedures and subsequently translating that respective risk mitigation up and through
to the parent level and to the Company’s external consolidated financial statements. Also, as the Company’s subsidiary is
not large enough to effectively mitigate certain risks by segregating incompatible duties, management must employ compensating mechanisms
throughout the Company in a manner that is feasible given the constraints within which it operates.
The
material weaknesses management identified were caused by an insufficient complement of resources at our OmniMetrix subsidiary and limited
IT system capabilities, such that individual control policies and procedures could not be implemented, maintained, or remediated when
and where necessary. More specifically, there were material weaknesses identified in our internal control over financial reporting related
to ineffective design and implementation of information technology general controls (“ITGCs”) in the areas of user access,
program change management and vendor management controls.
As
a result, a majority of the significant process areas management identified for our OmniMetrix subsidiary had three material weaknesses
present. This condition was further exacerbated as the Company could not demonstrate that each of the principles described within COSO’s
(the Committee of Sponsoring Organization’s) document “Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013)” were present
and functioning.
Changes
in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
During
the six-month period ended June 30, 2024, we have implemented the following (i) a process pursuant to which System and Organization Controls
(SOC) reports are obtained from third-party vendors on a recurring schedule and such reports are evaluated for any issues, (ii) provisioning/termination
controls with signed and authenticated authorizations, and (iii) change controls for development processes that require authorizations,
peer review, quality assurance documentation, ticket matching of changes to work authorizations and overall change controls. It is our
belief that these added controls and related actions will effectively remediate the existing material weaknesses. The material weaknesses
will not be considered remediated, however, until the applicable controls operate for a sufficient period of time and management has
concluded, through testing, that these controls are operating effectively. We expect that the remediation of these material weaknesses
will be completed by the end of fiscal 2024.
Other
than the remediation actions above, there were no other
changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the
period covered by this report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial
reporting.
25
PART
II
ITEM
6.
EXHIBITS.
#31.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
#31.2
Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
#32.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
#32.2
Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
#101.1
The
following financial statements from Acorn Energy’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, filed on August 8, 2024 ,
formatted in XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language): (i) Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, (ii) Condensed Consolidated
Statements of Operations, (iii) Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity, (iv) Condensed Consolidated Statements of
Cash Flows and (v) Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, tagged as blocks of text.
#104.1
Cover
Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document)
*
This
exhibit includes a management contract, compensatory plan or arrangement in which one or more directors or executive officers of
the Registrant participate.
#
This
exhibit is filed or furnished herewith.
26
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by
its principal financial officer thereunto duly authorized.
ACORN
ENERGY, INC.
Dated:
August 8, 2024
By:
/s/
TRACY S. CLIFFORD
Tracy
S. Clifford
Chief
Financial Officer
27
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.