Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
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Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management, with the Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") of the Company, has evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the year ended December 31, 2019 pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“the Exchange Act”). Based upon that evaluation, our CEO and our CFO concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures as of the year ended December 31, 2019 were effective, in all material respects, and designed to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is (1) recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms and (2) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our CEO and CFO, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.
Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
As required by the SEC's rules and regulations for the implementation of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Company's management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. The Company's 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 GAAP.
The Company's management, including the CEO and CFO, conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019 based on the framework established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission (2013). This assessment included an evaluation of the design of our internal control over financial reporting and
testing of the operational effectiveness of those controls. Based on our assessment, the Company's management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2019.
The effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019 has been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears following Item 9B of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
In the ordinary course of business, the Company reviews its internal control over financial reporting and makes changes to systems and processes to improve such controls and increase efficiency, while ensuring that an effective internal control environment is maintained.
Starting in 2017, the Company undertook steps to advance a multi-year effort to transform many of our support functions and related technologies, including Finance, Human Resources and Procurement. In connection with these restructuring and transformation plans, we continue to centralize certain accounting functions within shared service centers operated by an outsourced provider. This initiative is not in response to any identified deficiency or weakness in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. In response to this process, the Company has and will continue to align and streamline the design and operation of its financial control environment.
Other than as described in the preceding paragraph, there have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the 1934 Act) during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2019 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
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