Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Item 4.
Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules
13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act). Based on such evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, at September 30, 2023, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective in recording,
processing, summarizing and reporting, on a timely basis, information we are required to disclose in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act, and our disclosure controls and procedures were also effective to ensure that
information we disclose in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required
disclosure.
33
Index
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Donegal Mutual implemented a new application system that Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries began to utilize during 2021 for the allocation of expenses and, beginning in 2022, for reinsurance premiums and
commissions. Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries expanded the utilization of this application system in 2023 to include the preparation of financial statements based on SAP state insurance regulators prescribe or permit. The SAP
financial statements of our insurance subsidiaries serve as the starting point for our financial statements prepared using GAAP. The new application system provides for further automation of, and enhanced internal controls over, these processes.
The implementation of the new system is part of a multi-year accounting systems and process modernization initiative Donegal Mutual is implementing to achieve various benefits for Donegal Mutual and our insurance subsidiaries, including
streamlined financial reporting workflows and a more efficient control environment.
Such changes resulted in changes to procedures related to our financial reporting. Prior to the implementation of the new systems, we identified and designed new internal controls that we incorporated into our
internal controls over financial reporting. Following the implementation, we validated these new controls according to our established processes. We did not implement these changes in internal controls to respond to any actual or perceived
significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
We base all statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that are not historic facts on our current expectations. Such statements are forward-looking in nature (as defined in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995) and necessarily involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements we make may be identified by our use of words such as “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “estimate” and
similar expressions. Our actual results could vary materially from our forward-looking statements. The factors that could cause our actual results to vary materially from the forward-looking statements we have previously made include, but are not
limited to, adverse litigation and other trends that could increase our loss costs (including labor shortages and escalating medical, automobile and property repair costs), adverse and catastrophic weather events (including from changing climate
conditions), our ability to maintain profitable operations (including our ability to underwrite risks effectively and charge adequate premium rates), prolonged economic challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the adequacy of the loss and
loss expense reserves of our insurance subsidiaries, the availability and successful operation of the information technology systems our insurance subsidiaries utilize, the successful development of new information technology systems to allow our
insurance subsidiaries to compete effectively, business and economic conditions in the areas in which we and our insurance subsidiaries operate, interest rates, competition from various insurance and other financial businesses, terrorism, the
availability and cost of reinsurance, legal and judicial developments (including those related to COVID-19 business interruption coverage exclusions), changes in regulatory requirements, our ability to attract and retain independent insurance
agents, changes in our A.M. Best rating and the other risks that we describe from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update such statements or to announce publicly the results of
any revisions that we may make to any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.
Part II. Other Information
Item 1.
Legal Proceedings.
None.
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.