Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results.
On April 12, 2021, the Acting Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and Acting Chief Accountant of the SEC together issued a statement regarding the accounting and reporting considerations for warrants issued by special purpose acquisition companies entitled “Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”)” (the “SEC Statement”). Specifically, the SEC Statement focused on warrants that have certain settlement terms and provisions related to certain tender offers or warrants which do not meet the criteria to be considered indexed to an entity’s own stock, which terms are similar to those contained in the warrant agreement governing our warrants. As a result of the SEC Statement, we evaluated the accounting treatment of our 17,250,000 Public Warrants and 9,400,000 Private Placement Warrants, and determined that the warrants should be recorded as derivative liabilities measured at fair value, with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings.
As a result, included on our balance sheet as of June 30, 2021 contained elsewhere in this Form
10-Q
are derivative liabilities related to embedded features contained within our warrants. Accounting Standards Codification
815-40,
“Derivatives and Hedging – Contracts on an Entity’s Own Equity”, provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting
non-cash
gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statement of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors, which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize
non-cash
gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.
Additionally, in connection with our evaluation of the Company’s warrants in connection with the SEC Statement, our management concluded that, due to the industry-wide issues and related insufficient risk assessment of the underlying accounting for certain instruments, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective. Further, we have determined that our insufficient risk assessment of the underlying accounting for certain financial instruments to be a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results. Any required remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that such measures will ultimately have the intended effects.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of June 30, 2021. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
Following this issuance of the SEC Statement, after consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, our management concluded that, in light of the SEC Statement, it was appropriate to restate our previously issued financial statement as of January 26, 2021. As part of such process, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting solely related to our accounting for the Warrants.
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 our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.
We may face litigation and other risks as a result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
As a result of such material weakness, the change in accounting for the warrants, and other matters raised or that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this Form
10-Q,
we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition or our ability to complete a Business Combination.
There have been and may in the future be changes to current accounting practices for SPACs, which could result in further changes to our financial statements and disclosures, and which could have a material adverse impact.
Recently, there have been changes to the accepted accounting for SPACs. For example, on April 12, 2021, the staff of the SEC issued the SEC Warrant Accounting Statement, which resulted in the warrants and other related instruments issued by many SPACs, including us, being classified as liabilities rather equity. Further changes in the accepted accounting treatment of features related to SPACs may occur in the future. Changes or differing interpretations in the accepted accounting practices related to SPACs could result in the recognition of additional accounting errors in previously issued financial statements, further restatements of previously issued audited financial statements, the filing of notices that previously issued financial statements may not be relied upon, and additional findings of material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting, all or any of which could have a material adverse impact on us.