RE:This should be interesting to watchRe-posting for those new to Hexo and wanting to do some research.
The below are all facts taken from Hexo's website - the 2020 year end MD&A
Hey queen - this fits your criteria for posting to your childish, unprofessional scrapbook, could you please add - I know you want investors to be informed of the posoitives AND negatives.
Thanks!
mydogchach - (6/1/2021 11:21:22 PM)
This should be interesting to watch The following are taken from Hexo's MD&A, staring on page 50. You can find the MD&A on Sedar or on the Hexo website
Q4/Year End July 31, 2020
The deficiencies as noted by the external auditor include:
-Inventory tracking and valuation
-internal controls related to financial reporting
-ineffective controls
-ineffective financial reporting
-ineffective IT controls
-ineffective fixed asset controls
-ineffective financial reporting
-ineffective purchasing controls
These comments were noted on the July 31, 2020 Year end financial reports - less than one year later and Hexo has acquired Zena, 48North and Redecan.
They are on their 4th CFO in two years
SSL cares less about spending investor money
If Hexo doesn't have effective financial controls over it's own current operaation - how in the world are they going to properly manage the new, combined operation.
Simple - they won't
Internal Controls over Financial Reporting
Material Changes to the Control Environment
The Company continued to experience issues with the existing Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) system and consequently embarked on a major ERP optimization initiative. This initiative will provide an integrated system for inventory tracking and valuation from seed to sale. It will also advance the Company’s strategic goal of standardizing and automating business processes and controls across the organization and reducing reliance on complex spreadsheets. This business transformation will specifically address risks within the cannabis industry and is intended to facilitate improved ICFR. During the period, the Company continued to expand into new markets and partnerships and introduced ready-to-drink beverages. This resulted in the implementation of additional controls.
As of April 30, 2020, management concluded that the Company did not have effective controls around its physical inventory count procedures, specifically with respect to reconciling to the ERP system. This material weakness was initially identified July 31, 2019. During the period, the Company introduced enhanced segregation-of-duties and review over work and production orders within the ERP, strengthened training, planning, guidance and communication for personnel involved in the physical count and resourced a dedicated Inventory department.
Identified Material Weaknesses and Remediation Plan
A material weakness in internal control over financial reporting 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 a company's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by the company's internal controls. Management has performed a detailed risk assessment to identify key accounts, business processes and related controls, which was predicated on process flow mapping with control owners. Deficiencies in control processes were then assessed and aligned to the five components of the COSO 2013 internal control framework. As of the three and twelve months ended July 31, 2020, the Company has continued to experience significant expansion of operations and changes in processes, which has resulted in additional complexities within the control environment. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that material weaknesses existed as of July 31, 2020, as described below.
Control Environment
The Company did not adequately design or implement a comprehensive governance program for controls and industry-wide pressures precipitated elevated turnover, resulting in an ineffective control environment. As the Company was unable to emphasize adherence to control processes across the organization, this resulted in an increased likelihood of misstatements occurring
Risk Assessment
The Company did not design or implement an Enterprise Risk Management Program to identify and analyze risks. As a result, financial reporting processes and internal controls were not, in some instances, appropriately designed to address risks specific to the business
Information Technology General Controls
While the Company had Information Technology General Controls (ITGCs) in place, some were assessed as ineffective. Consequently, this resulted in processes such as change management and user access management being deemed ineffective, contributing to issues with ERP functionality as described above
Fixed Assets
The Company did not have a fixed assets subledger within its ERP, instead maintaining this information within complex spreadsheets. This led to increased risk of error regarding the identification, tracking, classification, disposal, and deprecation of fixed assets.
Financial Reporting
The Company did not maintain effective process level and management review controls over financial reporting processes, reconciliations, the application of IFRS, accounting measurements related to complex transactions and compliance with administrative lender requirements. This resulted in adjustments being required to the preliminary consolidated financial statements and a revision to the prior year Consolidated Statement of Financial Position regarding classification between short-term and long-term liabilities. Some journal entries were not subject to consistent review and approval prior to posting
Procurement
The Company did not have effective controls around the authorization of purchases. This material weakness was initially identified July 31, 2019.