Oracle 2013 Annual Report Download - page 26

Table of Contents
acquisitions and could also materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain
employees, our business and our operating results. Compliance with these laws requires a significant amount of management attention and effort,
which may divert management’s attention from running our business operations and could harm our ability to grow our business, or may
increase our expenses as we engage specialized or other additional resources to assist us with our compliance efforts. Our success depends, in
part, on our ability to anticipate these risks and manage these difficulties. We monitor our operations and investigate allegations of improprieties
relating to transactions and the way in which such transactions are recorded. Where circumstances warrant, we provide information and report
our findings to government authorities, but no assurance can be given that action will not be taken by such authorities.
We are also subject to a variety of other risks and challenges in managing an organization operating in various countries, including those related
to:
The variety of risks and challenges listed above could also disrupt or otherwise negatively impact the supply chain operations for our hardware
systems products segment and the sales of our products and services in affected countries or regions.
As the majority shareholder of Oracle Financial Services Software Limited (OFSS), a publicly traded Indian software company focused on the
banking industry, we are faced with several additional risks, including being subject to local securities regulations and being unable to exert full
control that we would otherwise have if OFSS were a wholly owned subsidiary.
Acquisitions present many risks and we may not realize the financial and strategic goals that were contemplated at the time of a transaction.
In recent years, we have invested billions of dollars to acquire a number of companies, products, services and technologies. An active
acquisition program is an important element of our overall corporate strategy and we expect to continue to make acquisitions in the future. Risks
we may face in connection with our acquisition program include:
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general economic conditions in each country or region;
•
fluctuations in currency exchange rates and related impacts to our operating results;
•
difficulties in transferring funds from or converting currencies in certain countries such as Venezuela that have led to a devaluation of
our net assets, in particular our cash assets, in that country
’
s currency;
•
regulatory changes, including government austerity measures in certain countries that we may not be able to sufficiently plan for or
avoid that may unexpectedly impair bank deposits or other cash assets that we hold in these countries or that impose additional taxes
that we may be required to pay in these countries;
•
political unrest, terrorism and the potential for other hostilities, including those in Ukraine;
•
natural disasters;
•
longer payment cycles and difficulties in collecting accounts receivable;
•
overlapping tax regimes;
•
our ability to repatriate funds held by our foreign subsidiaries to the United States at favorable tax rates;
•
public health risks, particularly in areas in which we have significant operations; and
•
reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries.
•
our ongoing business may be disrupted and our management’s attention may be diverted by acquisition, transition or integration
activities;
•
an acquisition may not further our business strategy as we expected, we may not integrate an acquired company or technology as
successfully as we expected or we may overpay for, or otherwise not realize the expected return on, our investments, which could
adversely affect our business or operating results and potentially cause impairment to assets that we recorded as a part of an acquisition
including intangible assets and goodwill;