Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, have evaluated the effectiveness 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, or the Exchange Act, as of March 31, 2024. Based on management’s review, with participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of the quarter ended March 31, 2024, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting as described below.
Material Weakness in Internal Control
A material weakness is a control deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The following material weaknesses have been identified and included in “Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting”:
It was determined that as of December 31, 2023, the Company's primary change management controls were not designed and implemented effectively to ensure IT program and data changes affecting the Company’s financial IT applications and underlying accounting records, are identified, tested, authorized and implemented appropriately to validate that data produced by its relevant IT system(s) were complete and accurate Other Information Technology General Controls, automated process-level controls, and manual controls that are dependent upon the information derived from such financially relevant systems were also determined to be ineffective as a result of such deficiency. Business process controls (automated and manual) that are dependent on the affected ITGCs were also deemed ineffective because they could have been adversely impacted;
Ineffective design and implementation of controls over the valuation of accounts receivable to properly address the risk of material misstatement.
The material weaknesses identified above did not result in any material misstatements in our financial statements or disclosures, and there were no changes to previously released financial results. Our management concluded that the consolidated financial statements included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K, present fairly, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP.
The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, has been audited by Marcum LLP as stated in their report, which is included in Item 8 of the Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Remediation Plan
Our management is committed to maintaining a strong internal control environment. In response to the identified material weakness above, management will take comprehensive actions to remediate the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting. We are in the process of developing and implementing remediation plans to address the material weakness described above.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Except for the items referred to above, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(d) and 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act that occurred during the quarter ended March 31, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal controls over financial reporting.
Inherent Limitation on the Effectiveness of Internal Control
Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system will be met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is also based in part upon 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; over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Due to inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.