The Company defines fair value as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Valuation techniques used to measure fair value must maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. The standard describes a fair value hierarchy based on three levels of inputs, of which the first two are considered observable and the last unobservable, that may be used to measure fair value which are the following:

The following table represents the fair value hierarchy for our financial assets (cash equivalents) measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2017 and 2016:

Money market funds are highly liquid investments. The pricing information on these investment instruments are readily available and can be independently validated as of the measurement date. This approach results in the classification of these securities as Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.

The carrying amount of financial instruments such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, and accrued liabilities approximate the related fair value due to the short-term maturities of these instruments.