EXPEDITORS INTERNATIONAL OF WASHINGTON INC · FY 2024 Q4 

Risk Factors

EXPD
  SYMBOLOGY.ONLINE · text diffs 

What changed in the Risk Factors.

  EXPEDITORS INTERNATIONAL OF WASHINGTON INC · FY 2024 Q4 

Risk Factors

Item 1A. Risk Factors

In addition to the other information set forth in this report, careful consideration should be given to the risk factors under Item 1A Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 23, 2024. There have been no material changes in Expeditors' risk factors from those disclosed under Item 1A Risk Factors in our annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 23, 2024, except for the following:

Operational Risks

We face risks associated with the handling, transporting, and storing of customer inventory, including high value commodities.

Under some of our agreements, we maintain and transport the inventory of our customers, some of which may be high value in nature. Our failure to properly handle and safeguard such inventory exposes us to potential claims and expenses as well as harm to our business and reputation.

Our insurance coverage does not cover all potential losses and significant uninsured losses could adversely impact our financial results.

We carry insurance coverage for property damage, personal injury and other insurable events resulting from certain events such as fire, accidents, and other perils under extended coverage policies. Our insurance coverages contain policy specifications and insured limits customarily carried for similar locations, business activities and markets. We believe we are adequately insured. Certain losses, however, including losses from floods, earthquakes, acts of war, acts of terrorism or riots, cybersecurity events and pandemics, generally are not insured against or not fully insured against because it is not deemed economically feasible or prudent to do so. In some instances, the value of our customers' goods stored in a single facility or contained in a single shipment may be high in nature and may exceed our general property damage insurance policy limits. If an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occurs with respect to one or more of our facilities in the future, we could experience a significant loss of assets, including customer inventory (inclusive of high value commodities), and future operations could be harmed resulting in a loss of revenues or higher claims and operating expenses.

Furthermore, we cannot be sure that the insurance companies will be able to continue to offer products with sufficient coverage at commercially reasonable rates. If we experience a loss that is uninsured or that exceeds insured limits, then we could incur additional expenses or a loss of future revenues from a facility that is damaged. Any such losses or higher insurance costs could adversely affect our business.

General Risks

We identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting related to ineffective information technology general controls which, if not remediated appropriately or timely, could result in loss of investor confidence and adversely impact our stock price.

Internal controls related to the operation of technology systems are critical to maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. As disclosed in Part II, Item 9A, during the fourth quarter of 2022, management identified material weaknesses in internal control related to certain database changes made to information technology (IT) systems that support the Company's financial reporting processes. As management continued the remediation process and reviews, we identified additional IT controls that were not designed or operated appropriately that relate to these material weaknesses. Management concluded that unauthorized changes to databases and related applications could have gone undetected as controls to review and authorize direct changes that support several key operational and accounting systems excluded certain changes from review or were not captured, and as such were either not designed properly or did not operate effectively as designed. In addition, the system logic used to record direct changes excluded certain changes from being captured for review. As a result, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2022 and 2023 and as of the date of this report. At this time, we are not able to estimate when full remediation of these material weaknesses will be completed. The material weaknesses will not be considered fully remediated, until the applicable controls operate for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded through additional testing that these controls are operating effectively. To the extent management is unable to ultimately conclude that the identified issues have been remediated, our ability to record, process and report financial information accurately, and to prepare financial statements within required time periods, could be adversely affected, which could subject us to litigation or investigations requiring management resources and payment of legal and other expenses, negatively affect investor confidence in our financial statements and adversely impact our stock price.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities, Use of Proceeds, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities