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Disclosure controls and ICFR

Publication date: 12 Mar 2021

us SEC Comment Letters

The focus of the SEC staff’s comments on Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICFR) has not changed significantly from prior years. They continue to focus on:

the identification and disclosure of material weaknesses. Specifically, the SEC staff continues to question why a restatement or revision did not result in the reporting of a material weakness;
management’s disclosure around the effectiveness of ICFR and disclosure controls and procedures (DC&P). The SEC staff has questioned registrants when there is no explicit conclusion about the effectiveness of DC&P or when management has concluded that ICFR is ineffective while DC&P is effective; and
management’s documentation of the changes in ICFR that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect the registrant’s ICFR as required by Item 308 of Regulation S-K. Such changes may include updates to internal controls made in the process of (a) remediating previously identified material weaknesses, (b) as a result of the integration of significant acquisitions, (c) due to the implementation of new information technology systems, or (d) implementation of a new accounting standard.

Comment Examples

Guidance references

We note management concluded that your disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting were effective as of the end of the period covered by your annual report. Given the fact that you have restated your previously issued financial statements due to errors, please tell us why you did not disclose that these restatements were indicative of a material weakness in your internal control over financial reporting to comply with Item 308(a)(3) of Regulation S-K, and tell us how your officers determined that your disclosure controls and procedures were effective despite such material weakness in your internal controls over financial reporting.
Your report states that during your assessment, “management identified no significant deficiencies;” however, your report does not include a statement as to whether or not your internal controls over financial reporting were effective as required by Item 308(a)(3) of Regulation S-K. Please revise management’s report accordingly.
Please revise your report to clarify which version, 1992 or 2013, of the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission’s Internal Control – Integrated Framework you utilized when performing your assessment of internal control over financial reporting.
Please revise to disclose any change in your internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the last fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, your internal control over financial reporting. Refer to Item 308 (c) of Regulation S-K.
We note that management concluded that disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the fiscal year. We also note management's conclusion that disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of your fiscal third quarter. The narrative in your Form 10-K, however, states that "during the fourth quarter, there have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our internal controls over financial reporting." Please explain to us how you determined there was a change in the effectiveness of your disclosure controls and procedures, from period-to-period, given that there were no changes in internal controls during your fiscal fourth quarter.

SEC Financial Reporting Manual - Topic 4310: Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting [S-K 308]

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