Internal Controls The Company shall maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances that: (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization; (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary in order to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP and to maintain accountability for assets; (iii) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization; and (iv) the recorded accountability for assets is compared with existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences.
Potential Conflicts 7.1. The Board will monitor the Fund for the existence of any material irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the contract owners of all separate accounts investing in the Fund. An irreconcilable material conflict may arise for a variety of reasons, including: (a) an action by any state insurance regulatory authority; (b) a change in applicable federal or state insurance, tax, or securities laws or regulations, or a public ruling, private letter ruling, no-action or interpretative letter, or any similar action by insurance, tax, or securities regulatory authorities; (c) an administrative or judicial decision in any relevant proceeding; (d) the manner in which the investments of any Portfolio are being managed; (e) a difference in voting instructions given by variable annuity contract and variable life insurance contract owners; or (f) a decision by an insurer to disregard the voting instructions of contract owners. The Board shall promptly inform the Company if it determines that an irreconcilable material conflict exists and the implications thereof. 7.2. The Company will report any potential or existing conflicts of which it is aware to the Board. The Company will assist the Board in carrying out its responsibilities under the Shared Funding Exemptive Order, by providing the Board with all information reasonably necessary for the Board to consider any issues raised. This includes, but is not limited to, an obligation by the Company to inform the Board whenever contract owner voting instructions are disregarded. 7.3. If it is determined by a majority of the Board, or a majority of its disinterested trustees, that a material irreconcilable conflict exists, the Company and other Participating Insurance Companies shall, at their expense and to the extent reasonably practicable (as determined by a majority of the disinterested trustees), take whatever steps are necessary to remedy or eliminate the irreconcilable material conflict, up to and including: (1), withdrawing the assets allocable to some or all of the separate accounts from the Fund or any Portfolio and reinvesting such assets in a different investment medium, including (but not limited to) another Portfolio of the Fund, or submitting the question whether such segregation should be implemented to a vote of all affected Contract owners and, as appropriate, segregating the assets of any appropriate group (i.e., annuity contract owners, life insurance contract owners, or variable contract owners of one or more Participating Insurance Companies) that votes in favor of such segregation, or offering to the affected contract owners the option of making such a change; and (2), establishing a new registered management investment company or managed separate account. 7.4. If a material irreconcilable conflict arises because of a decision by the Company to disregard contract owner voting instructions and that decision represents a minority position or would preclude a majority vote, the Company may be required, at the Fund's election, to withdraw the affected Account's investment in the Fund and terminate this Agreement with respect to such Account; provided, however that such withdrawal and termination shall be limited to the extent required by the foregoing material irreconcilable conflict as determined by a majority of the disinterested members of the Board. Any such withdrawal and termination must take place within six (6) months after the Fund gives written notice that this provision is being implemented, and until the end of that six month period the Underwriter and Fund shall continue to accept and implement orders by the Company for the purchase (and redemption) of shares of the Fund. 7.5. If a material irreconcilable conflict arises because a particular state insurance regulator's decision applicable to the Company conflicts with the majority of other state regulators, then the Company will withdraw the affected Account's investment in the Fund and terminate this Agreement with respect to such Account within six months after the Board informs the Company in writing that it has determined that such decision has created an irreconcilable material conflict; provided, however, that such withdrawal and termination shall be limited to the extent required by the foregoing material irreconcilable conflict as determined by a majority of the disinterested members of the Board. Until the end of the foregoing six month period, the Underwriter and Fund shall continue to accept and implement orders by the Company for the purchase (and redemption) of shares of the Fund. 7.6. For purposes of Sections 7.3 through 7.6 of this Agreement, a majority of the disinterested members of the Board shall determine whether any proposed action adequately remedies any irreconcilable material conflict, but in no event will the Fund be required to establish a new funding medium for the Contracts. The Company shall not be required by Section 7.3 to establish a new funding medium for the Contracts if an offer to do so has been declined by vote of a majority of Contract owners materially adversely affected by the irreconcilable material conflict. In the event that the Board determines that any proposed action does not adequately remedy any irreconcilable material conflict, then the Company will withdraw the Account's investment in the Fund and terminate this Agreement within six (6) months after the Board informs the Company in writing of the foregoing determination, provided, however, that such withdrawal and termination shall be limited to the extent required by any such material irreconcilable conflict as determined by a majority of the disinterested members of the Board. 7.7. If and to the extent that Rule 6e-2 and Rule 6e-3(T) are amended, or Rule 6e-3 is adopted, to provide exemptive relief from any provision of the Act or the rules promulgated thereunder with respect to mixed or shared funding (as defined in the Shared Funding Exemptive Order) on terms and conditions materially different from those contained in the Shared Funding Exemptive Order, then (a) the Fund and/or the Participating Insurance Companies, as appropriate, shall take such steps as may be necessary to comply with Rules 6e-2 and 6e-3(T), as amended, and Rule 6e-3, as adopted, to the extent such rules are applicable; and (b) Sections 3.4, 3.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5 of this Agreement shall continue in effect only to the extent that terms and conditions substantially identical to such Sections are contained in such Rule(s) as so amended or adopted.
Internal Control Effective control and accountability must be maintained for all cash, real and personal property, and other assets. Grantee must adequately safeguard all such property and must provide assurance that it is used solely for authorized purposes. Grantee must also have systems in place that provide reasonable assurance that the information is accurate, allowable, and compliant with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. 2 CFR 200.303.
POTENTIAL MATERIAL CONFLICTS 7.1. The Trust agrees that the Board, constituted with a majority of disinterested trustees, will monitor each Portfolio of the Trust for the existence of any material irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the variable annuity contract owners and the variable life insurance policy owners of the Company and/or affiliated companies ("contract owners") investing in the Trust. The Board shall have the sole authority to determine if a material irreconcilable conflict exists, and such determination shall be binding on the Company only if approved in the form of a resolution by a majority of the Board, or a majority of the disinterested trustees of the Board. The Board will give prompt notice of any such determination to the Company. 7.2. The Company agrees that it will be responsible for assisting the Board in carrying out its responsibilities under the conditions set forth in the Trust's exemptive application pursuant to which the SEC has granted the Mixed and Shared Funding Exemptive Order by providing the Board, as it may reasonably request, with all information necessary for the Board to consider any issues raised and agrees that it will be responsible for promptly reporting any potential or existing conflicts of which it is aware to the Board including, but not limited to, an obligation by the Company to inform the Board whenever contract owner voting instructions are disregarded. The Company also agrees that, if a material irreconcilable conflict arises, it will at its own cost remedy such conflict up to and including (a) withdrawing the assets allocable to some or all of the Accounts from the Trust or any Portfolio and reinvesting such assets in a different investment medium, including (but not limited to) another Portfolio of the Trust, or submitting to a vote of all affected contract owners whether to withdraw assets from the Trust or any Portfolio and reinvesting such assets in a different investment medium and, as appropriate, segregating the assets attributable to any appropriate group of contract owners that votes in favor of such segregation, or offering to any of the affected contract owners the option of segregating the assets attributable to their contracts or policies, and (b) establishing a new registered management investment company and segregating the assets underlying the Policies, unless a majority of Policy owners materially adversely affected by the conflict have voted to decline the offer to establish a new registered management investment company. 7.3. A majority of the disinterested trustees of the Board shall determine whether any proposed action by the Company adequately remedies any material irreconcilable conflict. In the event that the Board determines that any proposed action does not adequately remedy any material irreconcilable conflict, the Company will withdraw from investment in the Trust each of the Accounts designated by the disinterested trustees and terminate this Agreement within six (6) months after the Board informs the Company in writing of the foregoing determination; provided, however, that such withdrawal and termination shall be limited to the extent required to remedy any such material irreconcilable conflict as determined by a majority of the disinterested trustees of the Board. 7.4. If and to the extent that Rule 6e-2 and Rule 6e-3(T) are amended, or Rule 6e-3 is adopted, to provide exemptive relief from any provision of the 1940 Act or the rules promulgated thereunder with respect to mixed or shared funding (as defined in the Mixed and Shared Funding Exemptive Order) on terms and conditions materially different from those contained in the Mixed and Shared Funding Exemptive Order, then (a) the Trust and/or the Participating Insurance Companies, as appropriate, shall take such steps as may be necessary to comply with Rule 6e-2 and 6e-3(T), as amended, and Rule 6e-3, as adopted, to the extent such rules are applicable; and (b) Sections 3.5, 3.6, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 of this Agreement shall continue in effect only to the extent that terms and conditions substantially identical to such Sections are contained in such Rule(s) as so amended or adopted.
MONITORING FOR MATERIAL IRRECONCILABLE CONFLICTS AVIF agrees that its Board of Directors will monitor for the existence of any material irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the Participants in all separate accounts of life insurance companies utilizing AVIF ("Participating Insurance Companies"), including each Account, and participants in all qualified retirement and pension plans investing in AVIF ("Participating Plans"). LIFE COMPANY agrees to inform the Board of Directors of AVIF of the existence of or any potential for any such material irreconcilable conflict of which it is aware. The concept of a "material irreconcilable conflict" is not defined by the 1940 Act or the rules thereunder, but the Parties recognize that such a conflict may arise for a variety of reasons, including, without limitation: (a) an action by any state insurance or other regulatory authority; (b) a change in applicable federal or state insurance, tax or securities laws or regulations, or a public ruling, private letter ruling, no-action or interpretative letter, or any similar action by insurance, tax or securities regulatory authorities; (c) an administrative or judicial decision in any relevant proceeding; (d) the manner in which the investments of any Fund are being managed; (e) a difference in voting instructions given by variable annuity contract and variable life insurance contract Participants or by Participants of different Participating Insurance Companies; (f) a decision by a Participating Insurance Company to disregard the voting instructions of Participants; or (g) a decision by a Participating Plan to disregard the voting instructions of Plan participants. Consistent with the SEC's requirements in connection with exemptive orders of the type referred to in Section 5.1 hereof, LIFE COMPANY will assist the Board of Directors in carrying out its responsibilities by providing the Board of Directors with all information reasonably necessary for the Board of Directors to consider any issue raised, including information as to a decision by LIFE COMPANY to disregard voting instructions of Participants. LIFE COMPANY's responsibilities in connection with the foregoing shall be carried out with a view only to the interests of Participants.
Client Conflicts If this Agreement is with more than one client, our Services shall be based upon the joint goals as communicated to us by the Clients, collectively. We shall be permitted to rely upon instructions and/or information we receive from either party, unless and until such reliance is revoked in writing to us. We shall not be responsible for any claims or damages resulting from such reliance or from any change in the status of the relationship between Clients.
Internal Control Over Financial Reporting The Company and each of its Subsidiaries maintain a system of internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act Regulations) that complies with the requirements of the Exchange Act and the Exchange Act Regulations and has been designed by the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer and is sufficient to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP, including that (A) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorizations; (B) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP and to maintain asset accountability; (C) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization; (D) the recorded accountability for assets is compared with the existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences; and (E) the interactive data in eXtensible Business Reporting Language included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement is accurate and fairly presents the information called for in all material respects and has been prepared in accordance with the Commission’s rules and guidelines applicable thereto. The systems of internal control over financial reporting of the Company and its Subsidiaries are overseen by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company in accordance with Nasdaq rules and regulations. Except as described in the Registration Statement, the Pricing Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, since the end of the Company’s most recent audited fiscal year, (i) there has been no material weakness in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (whether or not remediated), (ii) there has been no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting and (iii) the Company has not been advised of (a) any significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal controls that could adversely affect the ability of the Company or any Subsidiary to record, process, summarize and report financial data, or any material weakness in internal controls, or (b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the internal controls of the Company and each of the Subsidiaries.
No Changes in Internal Controls Since the date of the most recent evaluation of the disclosure controls and procedures described in Section 1(tt) hereof, there have been no significant changes in the Partnership’s internal controls that materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect the Partnership’s internal controls over financial reporting.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures; Deficiencies in or Changes to Internal Control Over Financial Reporting The Company has established and maintains disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act), which (i) are designed to ensure that material information relating to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to the Company’s principal executive officer and its principal financial officer by others within those entities, particularly during the periods in which the periodic reports required under the Exchange Act are being prepared; (ii) have been evaluated by management of the Company for effectiveness as of the end of the Company’s most recent fiscal quarter; and (iii) are effective in all material respects to perform the functions for which they were established. Since the end of the Company’s most recent audited fiscal year, there have been no significant deficiencies or material weakness in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (whether or not remediated) and no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. The Company is not aware of any change in its internal control over financial reporting that has occurred during its most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Financial Statements; Internal Controls (a) The audited consolidated financial statements and unaudited consolidated interim financial statements of the Company included in the Company SEC Documents (i) complied as to form, as of their respective filing dates with the SEC, in all material respects with the applicable accounting requirements and the published rules and regulations of the SEC with respect thereto, (ii) were prepared in accordance with GAAP applied on a consistent basis during the periods involved (except, in the case of unaudited financial statements, for the absence of footnotes, none of which, if presented, would materially differ from those in the audited financial statements), and (iii) fairly presented (except as may be indicated in the notes thereto) in all material respects the consolidated financial position of the Company and its consolidated Subsidiaries as of the dates thereof and their consolidated results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented therein (subject to normal recurring year-end adjustments in the case of any unaudited interim financial statements that would not, individually or in the aggregate, be material to the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole). (b) The Company has established and maintains a system of internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) as required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 of the Exchange Act that is sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that (i) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP, (ii) receipts and expenditures are executed only in accordance with authorizations of the Company’s management and directors, and (iii) any unauthorized use, acquisition or disposition of the Company’s or its Subsidiaries’ assets that would materially affect the Company’s financial statements would be prevented, or detected, in a timely manner. Since December 31, 2017, there has not been any (i) material weaknesses, or significant deficiencies that in the aggregate would amount to a material weakness (as such terms are defined in Rule 1-02(a)(4) of Regulation S-X), identified in the Company’s, or its Subsidiaries’, design or operation of internal controls, (ii) to the Knowledge of the Company, illegal act or fraud that involves management or other employees of the Company and its Subsidiaries who have a significant role in the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting (nor has any such deficiency, weakness or fraud been identified) or (iii) to the Knowledge of the Company, claim or allegation (in each case, made in writing) of any of the foregoing. (c) The Company has established and maintains “disclosure controls and procedures” (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 of the Exchange Act that are designed and maintained to ensure that (i) all information (both financial and non-financial) required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported to the individuals responsible for preparing such reports within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC and (ii) all such information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure and to make the certifications of the principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the Company required under the Exchange Act and Sections 302 and 906 of the Xxxxxxxx-Xxxxx Act with respect to such reports. (d) Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries is a party to, is subject to, or has any commitment to become a party to or subject to, any off balance sheet partnership or any similar Contract, including any Contract or arrangement relating to any transaction or relationship between or among the Company and any of its Subsidiaries, on the one hand, and any unconsolidated Affiliate, including any structured finance, special purpose or limited purpose entity or Person, on the other hand, or any “off balance sheet arrangements” (as defined in Item 303(a) of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act) where the result, purpose or effect of such Contract or arrangement is to avoid disclosure of any material transaction involving, or material liabilities of, the Company or any of its Subsidiaries in the Company SEC Documents or in the Company’s or such Subsidiary’s published financial statements.