Healthier Choices Management Corp
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Mar 27, 2024.
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FY2023 · Filed Mar 27, 2024
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Item 8. Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
Healthier Choices Management Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Healthier Choices Management Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in convertible preferred stock and stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the two years in the period 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 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Explanatory Paragraph – Going Concern
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As more fully described in Note 2, the Company has a working capital deficiency, has incurred significant losses and needs to raise additional funds to meet its obligations to sustain its operations. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans regarding these matters are described in Note 2. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for 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 audits. 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 audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits 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 audits 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 audits 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.
Critical Audit Matter
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters 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 separate opinions on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.
Valuation of Intangible Assets for Business Combination
Description of the Matter
As disclosed in Note 8 to the financial statements, during the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of Ellwood Thompson’s Natural Market, L.C. for total consideration of approximately $1.5 million. The transaction was accounted for as a business combination in accordance with Accounting Standards ASC 805,Business Combinations. Accordingly, the purchase price was allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, based on their respective fair values identified, including intangible assets with an aggregate fair value (excluding goodwill) of approximately $0.3 million. The Company, with the assistance of a third-party valuation specialist, estimated the fair value of the identified intangible assets using valuation models which require significant assumptions. The significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value of the identified intangible assets included discount rates, royalty rates, economic lives, and financial projections.
Auditing management’s assessment of the acquisition date fair value of the identified intangible assets is highly subjective and judgmental. Based on the level of management judgment, we have determined the evaluation of the acquisition date fair value of the acquired intangible assets to be a critical audit matter.
How We Addressed the Matter in our Audit
Our audit procedures related to the accounting for valuation of intangible assets for business combinations to address this critical audit matter included the following:
| ● | We gained an understanding of the Company’s process with regards to the methodology used, and the factors considered around the inputs, sources of data used, assumptions and estimates used to determine the acquisition date fair value of the intangible assets acquired. |
| ● | We tested the mathematical accuracy of the underlying schedules used in the valuation report. We tested the completeness, accuracy and relevance of source information underlying the data used in the models. |
| ● | We evaluated the Company’s future revenue growth rates by comparing them to historical results and performed a sensitivity calculation to ensure the reasonableness of these forecasts. |
| ● | We assessed the appropriateness of the overall approach and models used in determining the fair value of the intangible assets acquired. |
| ● | We evaluated the reasonableness of the assumptions used by management. |
| ● | We involved valuation professionals with specialized skills and knowledge in performing audit procedures to evaluate the reasonableness of the Company’s estimates and assumptions used by the specialist to determine the selection of revenue growth rates, discount rates, royalty rates and economic useful life. |
/s/ Marcum LLP
Marcum LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2017.
Saddle Brook, NJ
March 27, 2024
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