Item 4. Controls and Procedures
ITEM 4: Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management necessarily applied 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.
At the conclusion of the period ended September 30, 2023, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. As disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023, management identified three material weaknesses in internal control.
One material weakness in internal control related to ineffective information technology general controls (ITGCs) in the area of user access and lack of effective program change-management over certain information technology (IT) systems that support the Company’s financial reporting processes. Our business process controls (automated and manual) that are dependent on the affected ITGCs were also deemed ineffective because they could have been adversely impacted. We believe that these control deficiencies were a result of: IT control processes lacking sufficient documentation and risk-assessment procedures to assess changes in the IT environment and program change management of personnel that could impact internal controls over financial reporting.
The second material weakness in internal control related to the reserve for excess and slow-moving inventory. This control deficiency was a result of a lack of effective review and reconciliation controls over the forecasted sales and usage data.
In addition to the foregoing, during the Company’s closing of its books for the period ended June 30, 2023, management identified a third material weakness related to the Company’s Cost of Goods Sold (“COGS”) and Inventory during the first three quarters of fiscal 2023. COGS reflected in the Company’s Original Form 10-Q was based on inventory costing as of June 30, 2022. However, in the period following June 30, 2022, substantial fluctuations occurred in certain material costs. Our inventory costing process did not identify these fluctuations in a timely manner resulting in Inventory being overstated and COGS being understated and resulting in an overstated gross profit, operating income, income before the provision for income taxes and net income for the first three quarters of fiscal 2023. While the Company has begun the process to take measures which it believes will remediate the underlying causes of this material weakness, there can be no assurance as to when the remediation plan will be fully developed and implemented and whether such measures will be effective. Until the Company’s remediation plan is fully implemented and effective, the Company will continue to devote time, attention and financial resources to these efforts.
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Based on these material weaknesses, the Company’s management has concluded that at September 30, 2023 the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting were not effective.
Management, together with external consultants, is currently designing and implementing additional controls and procedures to remediate these items and expects to complete these actions during fiscal 2024. While the Company has begun the process to take measures which it believes will remediate the underlying causes of these material weaknesses, there can be no assurance as to when the remediation plans will be fully developed and implemented and whether such measures will be effective. Until the Company’s remediation plans are fully implemented and effective, the Company will continue to devote time, attention and financial resources to these efforts.
During the three months ended September 30, 2023, there were no changes in the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting except as described above.
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.