Item 4. Controls and Procedures
ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Disclosure Controls and Procedure
Disclosure controls are procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, such as this Comprehensive Form 10-K, are recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed to ensure that such information is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and principal financial officer (“CFO”), as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and evaluating our disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and implemented, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, as ours are designed to do, and management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our CEO, who is currently also acting as our CFO for this purpose, we have evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on that evaluation, our management, including our CEO and CFO, concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of March 31, 2024, as the result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting discussed below, which is currently being remediated.
Notwithstanding the material weakness, management believes the consolidated financial statements included in this Comprehensive Form 10-K present fairly, in all material respects, the Company’s financial condition, results of operations and cash flows for each of the periods presented in this report in conformity with US GAAP.
Material Weakness in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
In connection with our evaluation for the year ended December 31, 2023, we identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting for the years ended December 31, 2023, and 2022, that continued during the period ended March 31, 2024, relating to the appropriate review of accounting positions for certain significant transactions. Specifically, (a) the Company does not have sufficient resources with the adequate technical skills to identify and evaluate specific accounting positions and conclusions, and (b) the Company has inadequate processes and controls to ensure appropriate level of precision of review related to our financial statement footnote disclosures.
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The material weakness did not result in any material misstatement in our interim financial statements or disclosures as set forth in this report, and there were no changes required to any of our previously released interim or audited consolidated financial statements.
Remediation Efforts to Address Material Weakness
Management is committed to maintaining a strong internal control environment. In response to the identified material weakness, management, with the oversight of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, has taken actions to remediate the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting by (a) engaging an Interim Controller with responsibility for monitoring the performance of controls by control owners, (b) commencing an evaluation of the skills and experience of our existing personnel with respect to public company experience and appropriate level of expertise in the respective areas of accounting, SEC financial reporting and associated internal controls commensurate with the type, volume and complexity of our accounting operations, transactions and reporting requirements, and (c) identifying accounting advisory consultants to engage to provide additional depth and breadth in our technical accounting, and will continue to utilize such consultants as appropriate until we have ensured that our personnel have the appropriate expertise and experience. In addition, we have reinforced the importance of adherence to Company policies regarding control performance and related documentation with control owners, identified training and resource needs for control owners, and developed monitoring activities to validate the performance of controls by control owners.
The Company anticipates the actions described above and resulting improvements in controls will strengthen the Company’s processes, procedures and controls related to management’s review of accounting positions for our transactions and will address the related material weakness. However, the material weakness cannot be considered remediated until the applicable control has operated for a sufficient period of time, and management has concluded, through testing, that the control is operating effectively.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Other than the material weakness described above, and the ongoing remediation of such material weakness, there were no changes during the three months ended March 31, 2024 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
The Company may be subject to a variety of claims or suits that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of business. We are not a party to any litigation as a defendant where a loss contingency is required to be reflected in our condensed consolidated financial statements.
ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
For information regarding risk factors, please refer to Item 1A in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. Investors should consider such risk factors prior to making an investment decision with respect to the Company’s securities.
ITEM 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
None.
ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable
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