Strategic acquisitions are an important part of our growth strategy, and we seek to identify attractive acquisition opportunities that we believe will be accretive and result in increased sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"), cost savings, synergies and various other benefits. Assessing the viability and realizing the benefits of these transactions is subject to significant uncertainty. While we seek to mitigate risks and liabilities of these transactions through due diligence to identify valuation issues and potential loss contingencies and to negotiate transaction terms, there may be risks and liabilities that our due diligence efforts do not discover, that are not accurately or completely disclosed to us or that we inadequately assess. Additionally, the evaluation and consummation of strategic transactions is a time-consuming and costly process that can divert resources away from our operations and result in the incurrence of meaningful transaction expenses. Furthermore, multiples for acquisition targets have generally increased over the past few years, and we face increased competition from other acquirors for attractive acquisition opportunities. As a result, we may not be able to consummate acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. We may also not be able to obtain necessary approvals, including regulatory or shareholder approvals, to consummate acquisitions. An inability to continue to identify and consummate attractive acquisitions could adversely affect our growth.
If we complete an acquisition, we need to successfully integrate the target company's products, services, associates and systems into our business operations in order to realize the anticipated benefits from an acquisition. Integration can be a complex and time-consuming process, and if the integration is not fully successful or is delayed for a material period of time, we may not achieve the anticipated synergies or benefits of the acquisition. Although we have been successful in the past with the integration of numerous acquisitions, we may not be able to successfully integrate the operations of any future acquired businesses with our own in an efficient and cost-effective manner or without significant disruption to our or the acquired companies' existing operations. Furthermore, even if a target company is successfully integrated, an acquisition may fail to further our business strategy as anticipated, expose us to increased competition or challenges with respect to our products or services, and expose us to additional liabilities. Any impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets acquired in a strategic transaction may reduce our earnings. Moreover, acquisitions involve significant risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties as to the future financial performance of the acquired business, the achievement of expected synergies, difficulties integrating acquired personnel and corporate cultures into our business, the potential loss of key employees, customers or suppliers, difficulties in integrating different computer and accounting systems, exposure to unforeseen liabilities of acquired companies and the diversion of management attention and resources from existing operations. We may be unable to successfully complete potential acquisitions due to multiple factors, such as issues related to regulatory review of the proposed transactions. We may also be required to incur additional debt or issue additional shares of our common stock in order to consummate acquisitions in the future. Potential new debt may be substantial and may limit our flexibility in using our cash flow from operations. The issuance of new shares of our common stock could dilute the equity value of our existing stockholders. Our failure to fully integrate future acquired businesses effectively or to manage other consequences of our acquisitions, including increased indebtedness, could prevent us from remaining competitive and, ultimately, could adversely affect our financial condition, operating results and cash flows.