Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Item
4. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation
of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Under
the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted
an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the fiscal quarter ended September 30,
2023, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our chief executive
officer and chief financial officer have concluded that during the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures
were not effective.
Disclosure
controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed
under the Exchange Act, such as this report, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the
SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated
and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely
decisions regarding required disclosure.
Our
management evaluated, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer (our “Certifying Officers”),
the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2023, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act.
Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, as of September 30, 2023, our disclosure controls and procedures
were not effective, due to the previously disclosed material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting relating to the
accounting treatment for complex financial instruments and the failure to properly account for and disclose such instruments, in addition
to a material weakness in internal control related to the lack of review controls over financial reporting , required filings and
related disclosures.
Management’s
Report on Internal Controls over Financial Reporting
As
required by SEC rules and regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management is responsible for establishing
and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide
reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our consolidated financial statements for
external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures
that:
(1)
pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of
the assets of our company,
(2)
provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of consolidated financial statements in
accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management
and directors, and
(3)
provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that
could have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements.
37
Because
of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our consolidated
financial statements. 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 or compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2023. In making these assessments,
management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control
— Integrated Framework (2013). Based on our assessments and those criteria, management determined that we did not maintain effective
internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2023, due to the material weakness in our internal control over financial
reporting relating to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments and related disclosure in addition to a material
weakness in internal control related to the lack of review controls over financial reporting, required filings and related disclsoures.
Management
has implemented remediation steps to improve our internal control over financial reporting. Specifically, we expanded and improved our
review process for complex securities and related accounting standards. We plan to further improve this process by enhancing access to
accounting literature, identification and consideration of third-party professionals with whom to consult regarding complex accounting
applications and implementing additional layers of reviews in the financial close process.
Changes
in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There
was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended September 30, 2023 covered by this
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial
reporting, with the exception of the below.
Management
noted a lack of review controls over the financial accounting close, required filings and reporting process that resulted in an erroneously
filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q which is being corrected with this amended filing.
The
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer performed additional accounting and financial analyses and other post-closing procedures
including consulting with subject matter experts related to the accounting for temporary and permanent equity and the restatement of
the Prior Financials. The Company’s management has expended, and will continue to expend, a substantial amount of effort and resources
for the remediation of the material weakness and improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. The Company’s management
will review the financial statement close process and perform a more thorough review of the closing process, financial statements, filing
and related workbooks and schedules. While we have processes to properly identify and evaluate the appropriate accounting technical pronouncements
and other literature for all significant or unusual transactions, we have expanded and will continue to improve these processes to ensure
that the nuances of such transactions are effectively evaluated in the context of the increasingly complex accounting standards.
38
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.