Sachem Capital Corp.
For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Mar 31, 2025.
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FY2024 · Filed Mar 31, 2025
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Report of Predecessor Auditor
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders
Sachem Capital Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Sachem Capital Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and the related statements of comprehensive income, changes in shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the financial statements). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Change in Accounting Principle
As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, the Company has changed its method of accounting for credit losses effective January 1, 2023, due to the adoption of Accounting Standards Update 2016-13Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (FASB ASC 326):Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. The Company adopted the new credit loss standard using the modified retrospective method such that prior period amounts are not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with previously applicable generally accepted accounting principles. The adoption of the new credit loss standard and its subsequent application is also communicated as a critical audit matter below.
Basis of Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
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Critical Audit Matter
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the account or disclosures to which it relates.
Mortgages Receivable and Allowance for Credit Losses
As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, the Company estimates its allowance for credit losses (“ACL”) in accordance with Accounting Standards Update 2016-13,Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326):Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (the “ASU”). The Company adopted Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 326 as of January 1, 2023 as described in Note 2 to the financial statements. The ASU requires credit losses on loans to be measured using an expected credit loss model (referred to as the current expected credit loss (CECL) model) which estimates credit losses over the expected life of the loan. Estimates of expected credit losses are based on historical experience, adjusted for management’s evaluation of current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. The impact of adoption of this standard on January 1, 2023, was a $2.0 million increase to the allowance for credit losses, a $0.5 million increase to the allowance for unfunded commitments, and an increase of $2.5 million to cumulative net earnings for the cumulative effect adjustment recorded upon adoption.
The Company’s measurement of expected credit losses of loans on a pooled basis, when the loans share similar risk characteristics, is based on historical data that is adjusted, as necessary, for both internal and external qualitative factors where there are differences in the historical loss data of the Company and current or projected future conditions. The Company currently pools its portfolio based on geographic locations. Consideration of the relevant qualitative factors is used to bring the ACL to the level management believes is appropriate based on factors that are otherwise unaccounted for in the quantitative process. The ACL also includes reserves for loans evaluated on an individual basis, such as certain loans identified for potential foreclosure proceedings for either non-performance or other similar criteria. Management applies its judgment in the determination of the qualitative factors and establishes reserves on an individual basis to estimate the ACL.
Auditing the initial adoption of the relative qualitative factors used in the allowance for credit losses and the subsequent application of the qualitative factors was identified by us as a critical audit matter because of the significant auditor judgement applied and significant audit effort needed to evaluate the subjective and complex judgements made by management during adoption and subsequent application of the qualitative factor framework.
The primary procedures we performed, with the assistance of our valuation specialist, to address this critical audit matter included:
| ● | Obtained an understanding of the Company’s process for establishing the ACL, including determination of the qualitative factors and reserve assumptions for loans evaluated on an individual basis. |
| ● | We tested the underlying data, including all historical information used in the Company’s model for establishing the ACL for completeness and accuracy, including recalculation of the analyses. |
| ● | We assessed all significant assumptions and subjective adjustments made by management to the vintage/historical information used in the model by analyzing the facts and circumstances provided by management for such adjustments. |
| ● | For loans evaluated on an individual basis, we obtained and evaluated valuations from the Company’s third-party valuation specialists, as well as obtained and evaluated other publicly available market data, and compared said values to the aggregate amounts owed by borrowers, for indication of loan losses; We also evaluated managements significant judgments applied in determining whether indicators of impairment were present, with respect to the Company’s loan portfolio and the underlying collateral, by obtaining evidence to corroborate such judgments and searching for evidence contrary to such judgments, which included consideration of evidence obtained after the balance sheet date but before the issuance of this report. |
We have served as the Company’s auditor from 2015 to 2024.
New York, New York
April 1, 2024
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