Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
The Company’s management, with the participation of the Company’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on their evaluation, the Company’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer have concluded that, because of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting disclosed below, as of January 31, 2023, the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective at a reasonable assurance level.
There are inherent limitations to the effectiveness of any system of disclosure controls and procedures, including the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of the controls and procedures. Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. The Company’s internal control system is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Because of inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to 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.
Management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of April 30, 2022. In making this assessment, management used the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this evaluation, the Company’s management initially concluded and disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2022, filed on July 14, 2022 with the SEC (the “Form 10-K”) that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of April 30, 2022.
However, for the reasons discussed below, management conducted a re-assessment of the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. In conducting its re-assessment of the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, management concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of April 30, 2022, because of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting discussed below.
As disclosed in the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 16, 2022, in the course of preparing the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2022, the Company identified errors related to the calculations and presentation of contract assets and contract liabilities in the Form 10-K.
Following the identification of these prior errors, management re-evaluated the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of April 30, 2022 and identified material weaknesses in the following areas:
1. While previously corrected as of April 30, 2022, historically, through April 30, 2022, the Company had presented contract assets and contract liabilities on a net basis on the consolidated balance sheets whereas ASC 606-10-45-1 requires gross presentation. In addition, a formula error was identified whereby the Company had not been grouping contracts assets and contract liabilities properly on a project-by-project basis. As a result, management has concluded that the Company did not effectively design and maintain controls over the completeness and accuracy of the gross presentation of contract assets and contract liabilities and thus a material weakness was identified; and
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FREQUENCY ELECTRONICS, INC. and SUBSIDIARIES
(Continued)
2. In connection with the above, as of April 30, 2021 the Company had presented contract assets and contract liabilities on a net basis on the consolidated balance sheets whereas ASC 606-10-45-1 requires gross presentation. During the process of completing the Company’s Form 10-K, management corrected the contract assets and contract liabilities balances in the April 30, 2021 column of the consolidated balance sheet to present them gross as opposed to net as previously filed. However, this should have been identified as a correction of a prior period error and assessed accordingly to determine whether or not a restatement was needed and whether the error was the result of a deficiency in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. As a result, management has concluded that the Company did not have an adequate control in place for identifying and assessing financial statement errors and thus a material weakness was identified.
As disclosed in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 16, 2022, by the Company, on December 14, 2022, the Company concluded that the items noted above constituted material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of April 30, 2022 and continued to exist as of January 31, 2023.
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 the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements.
Remediation Plan
To remediate the material weaknesses described above, the Company is pursuing the following remediation steps:
1.
Review and update, as necessary, the design and documentation of its internal control policies and procedures with respect to its internal control over financial reporting. The Company plans to implement additional formulas and comparative reviews of financial information as a result of issues identified in its policies and procedures as promptly as practical and to satisfy documentation requirements under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
2.
Ensure that its internal control over financial reporting is properly designed, documented and operating effectively by (i) enhancing the design of existing control activities and/or implementing additional control activities, as needed, (ii) monitoring the operating effectiveness of those controls, and (iii) ensuring that documentation exists to evidence the performance of those controls.
The Company believes that its remediation plan will be sufficient to remediate the identified material weaknesses and strengthen its internal control over financial reporting. However, by April 30, 2023, the Company’s next annual reporting date, there may not be sufficient time for the Company to remediate all material weaknesses or, if remediated, to test the operating effectiveness of the remediated controls. As the Company continues to evaluate, and works to improve, its internal control over financial reporting, management may determine that additional measures to address control deficiencies or modifications to the remediation plan are necessary. The Company cannot assure you, however, when it will remediate such weaknesses, nor can it be certain whether additional actions will be required or the costs of any such actions. Moreover, the Company cannot assure you that additional material weaknesses will not arise in the future.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The Company is in the process of implementing certain changes in its internal control over financial reporting to remediate the material weaknesses described above. Other than the implementation of the remediation plan discussed above, which began in the fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2023, there has been no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2023, that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, its internal control over financial reporting.
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PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
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.