Item 4. Controls and Procedures
ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Management's Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We have established disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow for timely decisions regarding disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives.
Under the supervision and with the participation of management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, we evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2022. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of September 30, 2022, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective because of the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting described in Item 9A of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which have not yet been remediated as of September 30, 2022.
Material Weaknesses Remediation Plan and Stat us
As previously described in Item 9A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, we began implementing a remediation plan to address the material weaknesses identified in the prior year, and our management continues to be actively engaged in the remediation efforts. To remediate the identified material weaknesses, we are continuing to take the following remediation actions:
• implement enhancements to company-wide risk assessment processes and to process and control documentation;
• enhance the Company's review and sign-off procedures for IT implementations;
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• implement additional review procedures designed to enhance the control owner’s execution of control activities, including entity level controls, through the implementation of improved documentation standards evidencing execution of these controls, oversight, and training;
• improve control activities and procedures associated with certain accounting areas, including proper segregation of duties and assigning personnel with the appropriate experience as preparers and reviewers over analyses relating to such accounting areas;
• educate and train control owners regarding internal control processes to mitigate identified risks and maintain adequate documentation to evidence the effective design and operation of such processes; and
• implement enhanced controls to monitor the effectiveness of the underlying business process controls that are dependent on the data and financial reports generated from the relevant information systems.
We are also continuing to evaluate additional controls and procedures that may be required to remediate the identified material weaknesses. We cannot provide assurances that the previously reported material weaknesses will be considered remediated until the applicable controls operate for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded, through testing, that these controls are operating effectively.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
In 2020 we began a multi-year implementation of a new ERP system, which will replace our existing core financial systems. The ERP system is designed to accurately maintain the Company’s financial records, enhance the flow of financial information, improve data management and provide timely information to our management team. We completed the implementation for certain subsidiaries during the first quarter of 2022, which included changes to our processes, procedures and internal controls over financial reporting during the first quarter of 2022. As the implementation of the new ERP system progresses for our other subsidiaries, we expect to continue to change certain processes and procedures which, in turn, are expected to result in changes to our internal control over financial reporting. As such changes occur, we will evaluate quarterly whether such changes materially affect our internal control over financial reporting.
There were no other changes to our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended September 30, 2022 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
For a description of our material pending legal proceedings, see Note 7 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
As of September 30, 2022, there have been no material changes from the risk factors previously disclosed in response to “Part I – Item 1A. ‘Risk Factors’” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022.
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