Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Disclosure Controls Evaluation and Related CEO and CFO Certifications. Our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer (“CEO”) and principal financial officer (“CFO”) conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this annual report.

Certifications of our CEO and our CFO, which are required in accordance with Rule 13a-14 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”), are attached as exhibits to this annual report. This “Controls and Procedures” section includes the information concerning the controls evaluation referred to in the certifications, and it should be read in conjunction with the certifications for a more complete understanding of the topics presented.

Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls. We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all fraud. A system of controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the system are met. Because of the limitations in all such systems, no evaluation can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected. Furthermore, the design of any system of controls and procedures 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, regardless of how unlikely. Because of these inherent limitations in a cost-effective system of controls and procedures, misstatements or omissions due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Scope of the Controls Evaluation. The evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures included a review of their objectives and design, the Company’s implementation of the controls and procedures and the effect of the controls and procedures on the information generated for use in this annual report. In the course of the evaluation, we sought to identify whether we had any data errors, control problems or acts of fraud and to confirm that appropriate corrective action, including process improvements, were being undertaken if needed. This type of evaluation is performed on a quarterly basis so that conclusions concerning the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures can be reported in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Many of the components of our disclosure controls and procedures are also evaluated by our internal audit department, our legal department and by personnel in our finance organization. The overall goals of these various evaluation activities are to monitor our disclosure controls and procedures on an ongoing basis, and to maintain them as dynamic systems that change as conditions warrant.

Conclusions regarding Disclosure Controls. Based on the required evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures, our CEO and CFO have concluded that, as of December 31, 2016, we maintained disclosure controls and procedures that were effective in providing reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act 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 CEO and CFO, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our 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. 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 ("GAAP"). Internal control over financial reporting includes policies and procedures that: (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with existing policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our CEO and CFO, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework set forth in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on our evaluation under the framework set forth in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013), our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2016.

The effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2016, has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears herein.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting. During the quarter ended December 31, 2016, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.