Filed: March 30, 2010 (period: December 31, 2009)
PART II Item 13. Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies
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- Item 16A. Audit Committee Financial Expert
- Item 16B. Code of Ethics
- Item 16C. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
- Item 16D. Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees
- Item 16E. Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers None. Item 16G. Corporate Governance
- PART III Item 17. Financial Statements See Item 18. Item 18. Financial Statements
- Item 19. Exhibits
| PART II
Item 13. Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies None. Item 14. Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds None. Item 15. Controls and Procedures a) Disclosure Controls and Procedures Management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits to the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms. b) Management's Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act. The Company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed under the supervision of the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of the Company's financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
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Management has conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on the framework established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this assessment, management has determined that the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009 is effective. c) Attestation Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm The registered public accounting firm that audited the consolidated financial statements, Ernst Young (Hellas) Certified Auditors Accountants S.A., has issued an attestation report on the Company's internal control over financial reporting, appearing under Item 18, and such report is incorporated herein by reference. d) Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting None. Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system's objectives will be met. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Controls can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on 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. Projections of any evaluation of controls effectiveness to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures. Item 16A. Audit Committee Financial Expert Our Board of Directors has determined that both the members of our Audit Committee, Mr. William Lawes and Mr. Apostolos Kontoyannis, qualify as "Audit Committee financial experts" and they are both considered to be "independent" according to the SEC rules. Item 16B. Code of Ethics We have adopted a code of ethics that applies to officers and employees. Our code of ethics is posted in our website: http://www.dianashippinginc.com , under "Corporate Governance" and was filed as Exhibit 11.1 to the 2004 annual report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 29, 2005 with number 001-32458. Copies of our Code of Ethics are available in print upon request to Diana Shipping Inc., Pendelis 16, 175 64 Palaio Faliro, Athens, Greece. We intend to satisfy any disclosure requirements regarding any amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of this Code of Ethics by posting such information on our website.
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Our principal Accountants, Ernst and Young (Hellas), Certified Auditors Accountants S.A., have billed us for audit services. Audit fees in 2009 and 2008 amounted to € 420,000 and € 446,250, respectively and relate to audit services provided in connection with timely SAS 100 reviews, the audit of our consolidated financial statements, the audit of internal control over financial reporting, as well as audit services performed in connection with the Company's follow on equity offerings. The Audit Committee is responsible for the appointment, replacement, compensation, evaluation and oversight of the work of the independent auditors. As part of this responsibility, the Audit Committee pre-approves the audit and non-audit services performed by the independent auditors in order to assure that they do not impair the auditor's independence from the Company. The Audit Committee has adopted a policy which sets forth the procedures and the conditions pursuant to which services proposed to be performed by the independent auditors may be pre-approved. Item 16D. Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees Our Audit Committee consists of two independent members of our Board of Directors. Otherwise, our Audit Committee conforms to each other requirement applicable to audit committees as required by the applicable listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange. Item 16E. Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers None. Item 16G. Corporate Governance Pursuant to an exemption for foreign private issuers, we are not required to comply with all of the corporate governance requirements of the New York Stock Exchange that are applicable to U.S. listed companies. A description of the significant differences between our corporate governance practices and the New York Stock Exchange requirements may be found on our website under "Corporate Governance" at http://www.dianashippinginc.com. PART III
Item 17. Financial Statements See Item 18. Item 18. Financial Statements The following financial statements beginning on page F-1 are filed as a part of this annual report. 81
Item 19. Exhibits (a) Exhibits
82 SIGNATURES The registrant hereby certifies that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form 20-F and that it has duly caused and authorized the undersigned to sign this annual report on its behalf. DIANA SHIPPING INC. By: /s/ Andreas Michalopoulos Andreas Michalopoulos Chief Financial Officer
Dated: March 30, 2010 83
DIANA SHIPPING INC. INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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