Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
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Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
(a) Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures: We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms. Our disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. 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. Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives, and management necessarily is required to use its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. As required by Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, as of the end of fiscal 2019, we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. This evaluation was carried out under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer. Based on this work and other evaluation procedures, our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, has concluded that as of the end of fiscal 2019 our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
(b) Changes in Internal Control: We periodically review our internal control over financial reporting as part of our efforts to ensure compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. In addition, we routinely review our system of internal control over financial reporting to identify potential changes to our processes and systems that may improve controls and increase efficiency, while ensuring that we maintain an effective internal control environment. Changes may include such activities as implementing new, more efficient systems, consolidating the activities of business units, migrating certain processes to our shared services organizations, formalizing policies and procedures, improving segregation of duties and increasing monitoring controls. In addition, when we acquire new businesses, we incorporate our controls and procedures into the acquired business as part of our integration activities. We are continuing the multi-year, phased implementation targeted for completion in fiscal 2020 of a new core enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system in certain business units, which we expect to reduce the number of ERP systems across the Company and enhance our system of internal control over financial reporting. We expect the initial implementation of the new core ERP system in each affected business unit to involve changes to related processes that are part of our system of internal control over financial reporting and to require testing for effectiveness and potential further changes as implementation progresses. During the first quarter of fiscal 2018, we successfully completed the initial implementation of the new core ERP system in two business units. There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
(c) Evaluation of Internal Control over Financial Reporting: Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of fiscal 2019. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013 framework). Based on our management’s assessment and those criteria, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of the end of fiscal 2019. “Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting” is included within “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Report. The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting was audited by Ernst & Young LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, whose unqualified report is included within “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Report.
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