Company: OCEA
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001641172-25-003155
Chunk: 2865

Company: Ocean Biomedical, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 8
Chunk 2865
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This information appears following
Item 16 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.

ITEM
9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

On
December 17, 2024, the Audit Committee approved the engagement of Berkowitz Pollack Brant (“BPB”) as the Company’s
independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. During the Company’s two most recent
fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, and during the interim period through December 17, 2024, neither the Company nor anyone
acting on its behalf consulted with BPB regarding any of the matters described in Items 304(a)(2)(i) and (ii) of Regulation S-K. The
Company dismissed Deloitte & Touche LLP (the “Former Accounting Firm”) as its independent registered public accounting
firm, effective as of December 2, 2024. As described in Item 4.01(a) below, the change in independent registered public accounting firm
is not the result of any disagreement with the Former Accounting Firm.

ITEM
                                            9.A. INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As of the end of the period covered by this annual
report, we evaluated, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief
Financial Officer, the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”)). Management necessarily applied its judgment in assessing the
costs and benefits of those controls and procedures, which by their nature, can provide only reasonable assurance about management’s
control objectives. You should note that the design of any
system of controls is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and we cannot assure you that any
design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions, regardless of how remote. Based upon this evaluation,
our Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective
because of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described below. In light of the material weaknesses, management
performed additional procedures to validate the accuracy and completeness of the financial results