Company: OCC
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001437749-25-004188
Chunk: 58

Company: OPTICAL CABLE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 58
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 for full tax deductibility by the Company. As a result of the tax law changes, compensation paid to designated “covered executives”, including current and former NEOs, in excess of $1,000,000 per individual will generally not be deductible, whether or not it is performance-based. The Compensation Committee may provide compensation that may not be fully deductible in order to maintain flexibility in compensating named executive officers in a manner consistent with our compensation philosophy, as deemed appropriate. The Compensation Committee believes that shareholder interests are best served by not restricting the Compensation Committee’s discretion in this regard, even though such compensation may result in non-deductible compensation expenses to the Company. The Compensation Committee may in the future authorize compensation in excess of $1,000,000 to named executive officers that will not be deductible under Section 162(m) when it believes doing so is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.

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REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE</div>

Messrs. Frazier, Nygren and Weber are members of the Audit Committee. Each of the members of the Audit Committee is considered independent under the listing standards of Nasdaq and under the SEC’s audit committee independence standards. Mr. Weber serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

The Audit Committee operates under a written charter adopted by the Company’s Board of Directors. A copy of the charter is available on the Company’s website at http://www.occfiber.com/investor-relations/. The charter was last amended effective September 9, 2021.

Management is responsible for the Company’s internal control over financial reporting and the financial reporting process and preparing the Company’s consolidated financial statements. The Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, Crowe LLP, is responsible for planning and performing an independent audit of the Company’s consolidated financial statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), forming and expressing an opinion about whether the consolidated financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, and the issuance of their auditors’ report thereon. The Audit Committee’s responsibility is to monitor and oversee these processes.

In this context, the Audit Committee has met and held discussions with management and the independent registered public accounting firm. Management represented to the Audit Committee that the Company’s consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, and the Audit Committee has reviewed and discussed the audited consolidated financial statements with management and the independent registered public accounting firm