Oracle 2010 Annual Report Download - page 55

Table of Contents
We caution readers that, while pre- and post-acquisition comparisons as well as the quantified amounts themselves may provide indications of general trends, the
acquisition information that we provide has inherent limitations for the following reasons:
• the quantifications cannot address the substantial effects attributable to changes in business strategies, including our sales force integration efforts.
We believe that if our acquired companies had operated independently and sales forces had not been integrated, the relative mix of products sold
would have been different; and
• although substantially all of our customers, including customers from acquired companies, renew their software license updates and product support
contracts when the contracts are eligible for renewal and we strive to renew hardware systems support contracts, the amounts shown as software
license updates and product support deferred revenues and hardware systems support deferred revenues in our supplemental disclosure related to
certain charges (presented below) are not necessarily indicative of revenue improvements we will achieve upon contract renewal to the extent
customers do not renew.
Constant Currency Presentation
Our international operations have provided and will continue to provide a significant portion of our total revenues and expenses. As a result, total revenues and
expenses will continue to be affected by changes in the U.S. Dollar against major international currencies. In order to provide a framework for assessing how our
underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency fluctuations, we compare the percent change in the results from one period to another
period in this Annual Report using constant currency disclosure. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in
currencies other than U.S. Dollars are converted into U.S. Dollars at constant exchange rates (i.e. the rates in effect on May 31, 2010, which was the last day of
our prior fiscal year) rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. For example, if an entity reporting in Euros had revenues of
1.0 million Euros from products sold on May 31, 2011 and May 31, 2010, our financial statements would reflect reported revenues of $1.41 million in fiscal 2011
(using 1.41 as the month-end average exchange rate for the period) and $1.22 million in fiscal 2010 (using 1.22 as the month-end average exchange rate for the
period). The constant currency presentation would translate the fiscal 2011 results using the fiscal 2010 exchange rate and indicate, in this example, no change in
revenues during the period. In each of the tables below, we present the percent change based on actual, unrounded results in reported currency and in constant
currency.
51
Source: ORACLE CORP, 10-K, June 28, 2011 Powered by Morningstar® Document Research℠