Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
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Item 9A. 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 our disclosure controls and procedures as such term is defined under Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended ("Exchange Act"). Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that because of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting described below our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2018 to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in our 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 and 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. Management necessarily applies its judgment in assessing the costs and benefits of such disclosure controls and procedures that, by their nature, can only provide reasonable assurance regarding management's control objectives. Also, we have investments in certain unconsolidated entities that we do not control or manage.
Management performed additional analysis and other post-closing procedures as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2018, to ensure the consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), including reviewing the accounting for income taxes related to existing partnerships.
Management has concluded that, notwithstanding the material weakness described below, the company’s consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K fairly present, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of the dates, and for the periods presented, in conformity with U.S. GAAP.
Management's Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. 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 of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Our management, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, based on the framework and criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013 Framework), issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
A material weakness, as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2, 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 the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
As a result of this assessment, management concluded that we did not design and maintain effective controls over the completeness and accuracy of the accounting for, and disclosure of, the income tax effects of acquired partnership interests. Specifically, we did not design appropriate controls to identify and reconcile deferred income taxes associated with the accounting for acquired partnership interests. This material weakness resulted in material errors in connection with our step acquisition of MillerCoors that were corrected through the restatement of the consolidated financial statements as of and for the
years ended December 31, 2017, and December 31, 2016, and the correction of the unaudited quarterly financial information for fiscal years 2018 and 2017. Additionally, this material weakness could result in misstatements to the aforementioned account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.
As a result of the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting described above, management has concluded that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018.
An independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, has audited the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, as stated in their report which appears in Part II—Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Management's Plan for Remediation of the Material Weakness
In response to the material weakness described above, with the oversight of the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, management is currently evaluating our policies and procedures related to the accounting for income taxes and plans to design and implement adequate internal controls to ensure that (i) the income tax effects of acquired partnership interests are properly accounted for and disclosed in the period of acquisition, and (ii) the resulting investment in partnership deferred income tax assets and liabilities are assessed and reconciled periodically to the book-tax differences in the underlying assets and liabilities within the partnership to determine whether any adjustment is necessary.
The remediation efforts are intended both to address the identified material weakness and to enhance our overall financial control environment. Management is committed to continuous improvement of the company’s internal control over financial reporting and will continue to diligently review the company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f)) during the quarter ended December 31, 2018, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
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