AETHLON MEDICAL INC

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain “disclosure controls and procedures” (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed, in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (who is our principal executive officer and principal financial officer), to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.

In designing and evaluating the 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, and management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. We have carried out an evaluation as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures.

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 internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2024. According to the guidelines established by Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, one or more material weaknesses renders a company’s internal control over financial reporting ineffective. Based on this evaluation, we have concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of March 31, 2024 due to the material weaknesses described below.

Description of Material Weaknesses

Based on such evaluation, management identified a material weakness in the segregation of duties within our financial systems. Specifically, user access controls were not sufficiently maintained to properly restrict both user and privileged access to financial applications within our accounting software system to initiate, record and approve entries. Also noted that check stock was secured in an authorized signatory’s office.

It is difficult to design and maintain appropriate segregation of duties in the initiation, recording, and approval of transactions within financial systems with a limited number of personnel. This, coupled with management having not designed and maintained user access controls that adequately restrict user and privileged access to financial applications, and the absence of sufficient other mitigating controls, created a segregation of duties weakness which could potentially have resulted in a material misstatement. Management has identified remediation actions that may require the addition of personnel to the finance and accounting function or a change in accounting software, which will allow the Company to design the control environment in a manner that provides effective segregation of duties. Management has identified certain actions beyond staff changes or accounting software changes. As of May 2024, the accounting software was updated, and distinct user roles were created. Transactions are recorded by personnel who are independent of those who initiate them and are approved by separate personnel who are independent of those who record them. Additionally, check stock was relocated in November 2023.

During 2017 through 2020, the Company incorrectly recorded accrued commission liability of approximately $404,000. The Company reversed accrued commission liability of approximately $404,000 during the year ended March 31, 2024 related to this error in accounting under U.S. GAAP. The Company originally failed to correctly apply appropriate accounting principles in recording the transaction, and the error was not detected and corrected in a timely manner, resulting in an adjustment to the financial statements.

Management has discussed with counsel appropriate measures to record such potential commission liabilities in the future and will implement a quarterly review of all accruals. The reversal of the accrued commission liability into equity as of March 31, 2024 corrected the impact of the error. The Company is in the process of implementing quarterly review controls over review and assessment of accruals. This plan, with oversight from our Audit Committee, is in the process of implementation in response to the identified material weakness.

Limitation on Effectiveness of Controls

In designing and evaluating our disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable and not absolute assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. No evaluation of internal control can provide absolute assurance that all internal control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company are detected. In reaching a reasonable level of assurance, management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. There are inherent limitations to the effectiveness of any system of disclosure controls and procedures, including the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of the controls and procedures. In addition, the design of any system of controls is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting during the last fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2024 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.