Item 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
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Item 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
The term "disclosure controls and procedures" is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as "controls and other procedures of an issuer that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms." Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that material information relating to us and our consolidated subsidiaries is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding our required disclosures.
Our management, with the participation of our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2021 (the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q). Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of September 30, 2021, because of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described below.
Management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Management has assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2021 based on criteria established in the Internal Control-Integrated Framework in 2013 issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
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 the Company's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Management has identified material weaknesses in controls related to (a) not fully designing, implementing and monitoring general information technology controls in the areas of user access and program change-management for systems supporting all of the Company’s internal control processes; and (b) the aggregation of open control deficiencies across the Company’s financial reporting processes because the controls were not fully designed and operating effectively.
Notwithstanding the identified material weaknesses, management has concluded that the consolidated financial statements included in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q present fairly, in all material respects, the Company's financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods disclosed in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP).
Remediation Plan
We currently are implementing a number of actions, as described below, to remediate the material weaknesses described in this Item 4. Company management is committed to ensuring that our internal controls over financial reporting are designed and operating effectively.
General Information Technology Controls (GITCs)
We continue to make progress in advancing foundational elements of our GITCs. These elements are providing value as we are leveraging them in the design of our future state processes and controls within Oracle, which is expected to go-live for a majority of our business in 2021. Our remediation plan includes, but is not limited to:
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Implementing new, relevant IT systems;
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Implementing improved IT change management policies and procedures, control activities, and tools to ensure changes affecting financial IT applications are identified, authorized, tested, and implemented appropriately;
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Implementing improved processes for requesting, authorizing, and reviewing user access to key systems which impact our financial reporting, including identifying access to roles where manual business process controls may be required;
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Implementing appropriate segregation of duties in relevant systems that impact internal control over financial reporting;
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Increasing resources dedicated to monitoring GITCs to ensure compliance with policies and procedures; and
- Implementing additional training to ensure a clear understanding of risk assessment and monitoring activities related to automated processes and IT systems and GITCs.
Financial Reporting
We continue to make progress on our automated and manual business process controls, including reports generated from these IT systems, that are dependent upon the completeness and accuracy of information from the affected GITC material weakness. These elements are providing value as we are leveraging them in the design of our future state processes and controls within Oracle, which is expected to go-live in 2021. Our remediation plan includes, but is not limited to:
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Frequent communications between our Audit Committee and management regarding our financial reporting and internal control environment;
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Expanded Business Unit Finance, Accounting and Reporting and Information Technology teams through the addition of experienced and qualified resources;
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We will improve the process and controls in the determination of the appropriate accounting and classification of our financial instruments and key agreements;
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Delivery of additional internal controls training, as well as policy and control standardization where possible;
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Re-designed internal controls processes as part of our Sarbanes-Oxley program to drive accountability and efficiency;
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Instituted monthly review of financial statements disaggregated by key business units, and functional areas to evaluate results, observe adherence to policies and agree on necessary actions;
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Engaged outside resources to assist with the design and implementation of a risk-based internal controls plan, enhance process documentation, provide company-wide training, and help with management's self-assessment and testing of internal controls.
When fully implemented and operational, we believe the controls we have designed or plan to design will remediate the control deficiencies that have led to the material weaknesses we have identified and strengthen our internal controls over financial reporting.
The material weakness will not be considered remediated until the applicable controls operate for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded, through testing, that these controls are operating effectively.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We have undertaken strategic remediation actions, as discussed above, to address the material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting. These remediation actions continued throughout the quarter ended September 30, 2021 but have not materially affected our internal control over financial reporting.
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
The information required by this item is set forth in Note 14 “Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees” to the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements included in Part I Item 1 “Financial Statements”, which is incorporated by reference herein.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
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