ableauctions10ka123108.htm
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
AMENDMENT NO. 2
TO
FORM 10-K/A
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ANNUAL REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 0R 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
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For the fiscal year ended: December 31, 2008 |
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TRANSITION REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 0R 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
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For the transition period from to |
Commission file number : 001-15931
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ABLEAUCTIONS.COM, INC. |
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(Name of registrant in its charter) |
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Florida
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
59-3404233
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
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1963 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
(Address of principal executive offices) |
V3K 3T8
(Zip Code) |
Issuer’s telephone number: 604-521-3369
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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Title of each class |
Name of each exchange on which registered |
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Common Stock, $0.001 par value |
NYSE Alternext US |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
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Common Stock - $0.001 par value |
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(Title of Class) |
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. r Yes x No
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. r Yes x No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the last 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Yes x No r
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company.
Large accelerated filer r Accelerated
filer r
Non-accelerated filer r (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) Smaller reporting company x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). r Yes x No
State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter: $4,860,211
Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date. As of March 16, 2009 the number of shares of the registrant’s classes of common stock outstanding was 5,906,957.
List hereunder the following documents if incorporated by reference and the Part of the Form 10-K (eg., Part 1, Part II, etc.) into which the document is incorporated: (1) Any annual report to security holders; (2) Any proxy or information statement; and (3) Any prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) or (c) under the Securities
Act of 1933. The listed documents should be clearly described for identification purposes.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
On August 31, 2009 we received a comment letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 which we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 25, 2009 (the “Original Report”). In response to that letter,
we filed Amendment No. 1 to the Original Report on September 25, 2009. On October 8, 2009 we received a second comment letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The primary purpose of this Amendment No. 2 to the Original Report (the “Amendment”) is to respond to the second comment letter.
In this Amendment we have again revised the discussion of our controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting included in Item 9A, “Disclosure Controls and Procedures”.
This Amendment includes information contained in the Original Report, and we have made no attempt in the Amendment to modify or update the disclosures presented in the Original Report, except as identified above. The disclosures in this Amendment continue to speak as of the date of the Original Report, and do not reflect
events occurring after the filing of the Original Report. Accordingly, this Amendment should be read in conjunction with our other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission subsequent to the filing of the Original Report, including any amendments to those filings. The filing of this Amendment shall not be deemed to be an admission that the Original Report, when made, included any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state a material fact necessary to make a statement
not misleading.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) require public companies to maintain “disclosure controls and procedures,” which are defined as controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the issuer in the reports that it
files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by an issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the issuer’s management, including its principal
executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
We conducted an evaluation, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer, who is also our Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2008. Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer/Chief Financial Officer has concluded that, as of December
31, 2008, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to the material weakness described below.
A material weakness is a control deficiency (within the meaning of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Auditing Standard No. 2) or combination of control deficiencies that result in more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected. Management
has identified the following material weakness which has caused management to conclude that, as of December 31, 2008, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective:
We do not have sufficient segregation of duties within accounting functions, which is a basic internal control. Due to our size and nature, segregation of all conflicting duties may not always be possible and may not be economically feasible. However, to the extent possible, the initiation of transactions, the
custody of assets and the recording of transactions should be performed by separate individuals. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have segregation of duties on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
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Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the issuer; |
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Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the
issuer; and |
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Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the issuer’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. 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. All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. Because of the inherent limitations of internal control, there is a risk that material misstatements may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by internal control over financial reporting. However,
these inherent limitations are known features of the financial reporting process. Therefore, it is possible to design into the process safeguards to reduce, though not eliminate, this risk.
As of the end of our most recent fiscal year, management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the criteria for effective internal control over financial reporting established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (“COSO”) and SEC guidance on conducting such assessments. Based on that evaluation, they concluded that, as of December 31, 2008 such internal control over financial reporting was not effective. This was due to deficiency that existed in the design or operation of our internal control over financial reporting that adversely affected our internal controls and that may be considered to be a material weakness.
The matter involving internal control over financial reporting that our management considered to be a material weakness under the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was inadequate segregation of duties consistent with control objectives of having segregation of the initiation of transactions, the recording
of transactions and the custody of assets. The aforementioned material weakness was identified by our Chief Executive Officer/Chief Financial Officer in connection with the review of our financial statements as of December 31, 2008.
In order to remediate this weakness, we will need to hire a number of additional employees. Until we are able to hire additional employees to remediate this weakness, management has determined to report more frequently to our audit committee and to have members of our audit committee review our control procedures on a regular
basis.
This Annual Report does not include an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s registered public accounting firm pursuant to temporary rules of the SEC
that permit the Company to provide only the management’s report in this Annual Report.
Management’s Remediation Initiatives
In order to remediate this weakness, we will need to hire a number of additional employees. Until we are able to hire additional employees to remediate this weakness, management has determined to report more frequently to our audit committee and to have members of our audit committee review our control procedures on a regular
basis.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15 (f) under the Exchange Act) during the fourth quarter of 2008 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
* Filed herewith.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
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Date: October 23, 2009 |
/s/ Abdul Ladha |
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Abdul Ladha, President and Chief Financial Officer |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
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Signature |
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Title |
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Date |
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Abdul Ladha
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Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Director
(Principal Executive Officer) |
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Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer and Accounting Officer) |
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