LifeStance Health Group Inc

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act), as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report. Based upon that evaluation, as a result of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described below, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2023 due to the material weaknesses described below.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act).

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer and the oversight of our audit committee, has evaluated the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. In assessing the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, our management used the framework established in Internal Control Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on that assessment and due to the material weaknesses described below, our management has concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2023.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weaknesses we identified were as follows:

We did not design and maintain an effective control environment commensurate with our financial reporting requirements due to an insufficient complement of resources in the accounting/finance and IT functions, with an appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training. This material weakness contributed to the following additional material weaknesses:

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We did not maintain formal accounting policies and procedures, and did not design and maintain effective controls related to significant accounts and disclosures to achieve complete, accurate and timely financial accounting, reporting and disclosures, including controls over account reconciliations, segregation of duties and the preparation and review of journal entries.

These material weaknesses resulted in material misstatements related to the identification and valuation of intangible assets acquired in business combinations that impacted the classification of intangible assets and goodwill, related impacts to amortization and income tax expense, and the restatement of our previously issued annual consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 with respect to such intangibles assets acquired in business combinations. Additionally, these material weaknesses could result in a misstatement of substantially all of the financial statement accounts and disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to our annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.

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We did not design and maintain effective controls over IT general controls for information systems that are relevant to the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. Specifically, we did not design and maintain: (i) program change management controls for financial systems to ensure that information technology program and data changes affecting financial IT applications and underlying accounting records are identified, tested, authorized and implemented appropriately; (ii) user access controls to ensure appropriate segregation of duties and that adequately restrict user and privileged access to financial applications, programs, and data to appropriate Company personnel; (iii) computer operations controls to ensure that critical batch jobs are monitored and data backups are authorized and monitored; and (iv) testing and approval controls for program development to ensure that new software development is aligned with business and IT requirements.

These IT deficiencies did not result in a material misstatement to our consolidated financial statements; however, the deficiencies, when aggregated, could impact maintaining effective segregation of duties, as well as the effectiveness of IT-dependent controls (such as automated controls that address the risk of material misstatement to one or more assertions, along with the IT controls and underlying data that support the effectiveness of system-generated data and reports) that could result in misstatements potentially impacting all financial statement accounts and disclosures that would not be prevented or detected. Accordingly, we have determined these deficiencies in the aggregate constitute a material weakness.

Our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which is included herein.

Remediation Plan for Material Weaknesses

We are in the process of designing and implementing measures designed to improve our internal control over financial reporting and remediate the control deficiencies which led to the material weaknesses. As of December 31, 2023, our remediation measures are ongoing and include the following:

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hired a new head of Internal Audit with extensive Sarbanes-Oxley Act experience;

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engaged with external consultants with healthcare and IT expertise to assist with enhancing our internal control environment design and development;

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hired additional accounting and IT personnel, including a new Senior Vice President of IT and Security, to enhance our technical reporting, transactional accounting, and IT capabilities. We designed and implemented controls to support training, development, and technical research capabilities for those personnel, along with the development and implementation of policies and procedures to support the external financial reporting functions. We continue to evaluate our staffing needs and plan to hire additional personnel as necessary to support our operations;

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performing detailed risk assessments for significant financial processes to identify, design, and implement control activities related to internal control over financial reporting;

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development and implementation of controls related to the formalization of our accounting policies and procedures and financial reporting;

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development and implementation of controls related to significant accounts and disclosures to achieve complete, accurate and timely financial accounting, reporting and disclosures, including controls over account reconciliations, segregation of duties and the preparation and review of journal entries;

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development and implementation of IT security and governance controls to address program change of internally and externally developed systems and computer operations associated with information systems impacting the preparation of our consolidated financial statements;

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development and implementation of controls related to the periodic monitoring and review of user access rights, segregation of duties conflicts, and, where it is determined there is a need for an individual to have conflicting access, a periodic review of the underlying activities is performed by an independent person who does not have such conflicting access;

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development and implementation of controls related to computer operations surrounding critical batch jobs and data backups; and

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development and implementation of program change management controls, including new or material modifications, related to testing, authorization and implementation of program and data changes affecting financial IT applications and accounting records.

We have made progress towards designing and implementing the plan to remediate the material weaknesses and will continue to review, revise, and improve the design and implementation of our internal controls as appropriate. Although we have made enhancements to our control procedures, these material weaknesses will not be considered remediated until our controls are effectively designed and operational for a sufficient period of time, tested, and management concludes that these controls are operating effectively.

We intend to evaluate current and projected resource needs on a regular basis and hire additional qualified resources as needed. Our ability to maintain qualified and adequate resources to support our business and our projected growth will be a critical component of our internal control environment.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We are taking actions to remediate the material weaknesses relating to our internal control over financial reporting. There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended December 31, 2023 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Limitations on Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

In designing and evaluating our disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. In addition, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and that management is required to apply judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs.