Stardust Power Inc. 10-Q

ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures We are required to comply with the internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the period ending December 31, 2021 and thereafter. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company would we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement. Disclosure controls are procedures with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports 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 designed with the objective of ensuring that 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. Background and Remediation of Material Weaknesses During the period from March 16, 2023 (inception) to December 31, 2023, the Company’s management identified material weaknesses in the implementation of the COSO 13 Framework (which establishes an effective control environment), lack of segregation of duties and management oversight, and control surrounding maintenance of adequate repository of contracts, appropriate classifications of expenses and complex financial instruments. We will design and implement measures to improve our controls over financial reporting process and to remediate these material weaknesses. Our ability to comply with the annual internal control report requirements will depend on the effectiveness of our financial reporting controls across our Company. We expect these systems and controls to involve significant expenditures and may become more complex as our business grows. To effectively manage this complexity, we will need to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls, and our reporting systems and procedures. For more information, please refer to “ Risk Factors - We identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to remediate these material weaknesses, or if we experience additional material weaknesses or other deficiencies in the future, or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial results, which could result in loss of investor confidence and adversely impact our stock price ” in our Prospectus. In light of this fact, our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has performed additional analyses, reconciliations, and other post-closing procedures and concluded that, notwithstanding the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the periods covered by and included in this report fairly present, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented in conformity with U.S. GAAP. Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting Other than the material weakness remediation efforts underway, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. 40 PART II — OTHER INFORMATION ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS None.