Item 4. Controls and Procedures
ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer and effected by our board of directors, management, and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP and includes those policies and procedures that:
• Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets;
• Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and
• 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 financial statements.
Because of our inherent limitations, our internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. 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 of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of June 30, 2023. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013 Framework).
Based on this assessment, our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) and our Chief Financial Officer (principal financial and accounting officer), has concluded that, as of June 30, 2023, our internal controls over financial reporting were not effective based on those criteria.
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A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
The ineffectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting was due to the following material weaknesses which are observed in many small companies with a small number of accounting and financial reporting staff:
• Insufficient segregation of duties on certain controls or processes;
• Limited resources to design and implement internal control procedures to support financial reporting objectives, including the quarterly close process and non recurring transactions;
• Lack of specialized experts in certain technical accounting and income tax areas;
• Lack of risk assessment procedures on internal controls to detect financial reporting risks; and
• Insufficient procedures and documentation related to review type controls and information technology controls.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
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 defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the ‘‘Exchange Act’’). Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by an issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the issuer’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Based upon our evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective for the three months ended June 30, 2023, in ensuring that information that we are required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC rules and forms.
Management’s Plan to Remediate the Material Weaknesses
Management had been implementing and continues to implement measures designed to ensure that control deficiencies contributing to the material weakness are remediated, such that these controls are designed, implemented, and operating effectively. Such measures include the following:
• Continue to hire qualified accounting personnel to prepare and report financial information in accordance with GAAP; and
• Continue to develop policies and procedures on internal control over financial reporting and monitor the effectiveness of operations on existing controls and procedures.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
During the six months ended June 30, 2023, we continued to execute upon our planned remediation actions which are all intended to strengthen our overall control environment. This included the continuation of internal policies and procedures development and documentation on internal controls over financial reporting. We are committed to maintaining a strong internal control environment and believe that these remediation efforts will represent significant improvements in our control environment. Our management will continue to monitor and evaluate the relevance of our risk-based approach and the effectiveness of our internal controls and procedures over financial reporting on an ongoing basis and is committed to taking further action and implementing additional enhancements or improvements, as necessary and as funds allow.
Inherent Limitations over Internal Controls
Internal control over financial reporting cannot provide absolute assurance of achieving financial reporting objectives because of its inherent limitations, including the possibility of human error and circumvention by collusion or overriding of controls. Accordingly, even an effective internal control system may not prevent or detect material misstatements on a timely basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk
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that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
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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.