Unizan Financial Corp. of Akron reported a "material weakness" in its internal controls over financial reporting.
In its fourth-quarter earnings report Friday, the $2.6 billion-asset company said it had "inadequate" computer controls related to application and infrastructure change controls and security for user access rights to certain systems.
Unizan also said that it lacked sufficient documentation on the yearend closing process, and that employee turnover and lower staffing levels because of its deal to sell itself to the $33 billion-asset Huntington Bancshares, of Columbus, Ohio, were problems.
Huntington and Unizan announced their deal in January 2004. The deal was scheduled to close in July, but inquiries into Huntington by the Securities and Exchange Commission forced the two companies to push back the closing date to Jan. 27, 2006.
Unizan said it expects to fix its problems that quarter, but its management team may not be able to issue a positive opinion on internal controls in time for the annual report.
Fourth-quarter net income at Unizan rose 13.8% from a year earlier, to $3.3 million, or 15 cents per diluted share.
