{"url_path":"/sec/eltp/10-k/2026/item-9a","section_key":"item-9a","section_title":"Item 9A CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES**","topic":"sec","document":{"doc_type":"10-K","doc_date":"2026-06-29","source_url":"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1053369/0001493152-26-031070-index.html","accession_number":"0001493152-26-031070","cik":"0001053369","ticker":"ELTP","issuer_name":"ELITE PHARMACEUTICALS INC /NV/","edgar_url":"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1053369/0001493152-26-031070-index.html","primary_entity_key":"0001053369","primary_entity_name":"ELITE PHARMACEUTICALS INC /NV/"},"word_count":1443,"has_tables":true,"body_markdown":"**ITEM\n9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES**\n\n** **\n\n*Evaluation\nof Disclosure Controls and Procedures*\n\n* *\n\nThe\nterm “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act, refers to controls\nand procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits\nunder the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and\nforms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required\nto be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s\nmanagement, including its principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding\nrequired disclosure. As required by Rules 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(b) of the Exchange Act, our management, with the participation of our\nChief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures based on the\ncriteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission on Internal Control (“COSO”),\nas of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our\nChief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of March 31, 2026 to ensure that\ninformation required to be disclosed by the Company in reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed,\nsummarized and reported within the time periods specified in Securities and Exchange Commission rules and forms and such information\nis accumulated and communicated to management as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.\n\n \n\nA\nmaterial weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a\nreasonable possibility that a misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely\nbasis. As of March 31, 2026, we identified the following control deficiencies that we believe constituted individually, and in the aggregate,\nmaterial weaknesses in the design and operation components of our internal controls within the COSO framework:\n\n \n\n●We\nwere unable to formalize and implement revised controls, policies and procedure documentation\nto evidence a system of internal controls, including testing of such revised controls, that\nwas consistent with available personnel and resources;\n\n \n\n●We\nfailed to maintain effective control activities over our control environment, risk assessment and response, information technology\nand communication, objective setting, event identification, control activities and monitoring components and;\n\n \n\n●We\nhad insufficient segregation of duties, oversight of work performed and lack of compensating\ncontrols in our finance and accounting functions due to limited personnel and resources.\n\n \n\n*Management’s\nAnnual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting*\n\n \n\nInternal\ncontrol over financial reporting refers to the process designed by, or under the supervision of, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief\nFinancial Officer, and effected by our board of directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding\nthe reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally\naccepted accounting principles, and includes those policies and procedures that: (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable\ndetail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions\nare recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles,\nand that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and (iii)\nprovide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the company’s\nassets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.\n\n \n\nInternal\ncontrol over financial reporting may not prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and\noperated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are achieved. Further, the design\nof a control system must be balanced against resource constraints, and therefore the benefits of controls must be considered relative\nto their costs. Given the inherent limitations in all systems of controls, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance all\ncontrol issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities\nthat judgments in decision making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls\ncan be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by management override of the controls.\nThe design of any system of controls is also based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there\ncan be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions; over time, controls\nmay become inadequate because of changes in conditions or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Accordingly,\ngiven the inherent limitations in a system of internal control, financial statement misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and\nmay not be detected. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance of achieving\ntheir objectives. We conduct periodic evaluations of our systems of controls to enhance, where necessary, our control policies and procedures.\n\n \n\n54\n\n \n\n \n\nManagement\nis responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rules\n13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief\nExecutive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial\nreporting. Management has used the framework set forth in the report entitled “Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013)”\npublished by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control\nover financial reporting. Based on its evaluation, utilizing those criteria, management has determined that, as of March 31, 2026, because\nof the material weaknesses described below, our internal control over financial reporting was not effective.\n\n \n\nA\nmaterial weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a\nreasonable possibility that a misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely\nbasis. As of March 31, 2026, we identified the following control deficiencies that we believe constituted individually, and in the aggregate,\nmaterial weaknesses in the design and operation components of our internal controls within the COSO framework:\n\n \n\nThe\ndeficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures are described above and our efforts\nto remediate these deficiencies are described below. Please also see Item 1A-Risk Factors: “*We have identified material weaknesses\nin our internal control over financial reporting which could, if not remediated, adversely affect our ability to report our financial\ncondition, cash flows and results of operations in a timely and fairly stated manner and/or increase the risk of future misstatements,\nwhich could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations and could cause\nthe market value of our common shares and/or debt securities to decline.”*\n\n \n\n*Changes\nin Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting*\n\n \n\nDuring\nthe fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, as a result of reviews and assessments of internal controls over financial reporting conducted\nby the Company’s CFO, the Company identified material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting as further detailed\nabove and began remediation efforts which are detailed below, with such activities expected to result in further changes in internal\ncontrol over financial reporting as necessary to remediate the identified material weaknesses.\n\n \n\n*Remediation\nefforts to address material weaknesses in internal controls over financial report*ing\n\n \n\nWe\nare in the process of revising and expanding control environment documentation and increasing personnel resources needed to support\nthe Company’s growth. We have begun designing and implementing controls, policies and procedure documentation that are\nconsistent with current and planned personnel, resources and capabilities, with significant focus on controls relating to financial\noversight, management, analysis and reporting of operations emanating from the Company’s manufacturing, marketing and\ndistribution of its Elite Label product line as well as enhanced segregation of duties and testing of control procedures. Please\nnote that these material weaknesses cannot be considered remediated until the applicable remedial controls operate for a sufficient\nperiod of time, allowing management, through testing, to reach a conclusion on such controls design and operational\neffectiveness."}