Symantec 2011 Annual Report Download - page 91

business could be subject to significant disruption, and we could suffer monetary and other losses and reputational
harm, in the event of such incidents and claims.
Increased customer demands on our technical support services may adversely affect our relationships with
our customers and our financial results.
We offer technical support services with many of our products. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to
accommodate short-term increases in customer demand for support services. We also may be unable to modify the
format of our support services to compete with changes in support services provided by competitors or successfully
integrate support for our customers. Further customer demand for these services, without corresponding revenues,
could increase costs and adversely affect our operating results.
We have outsourced a substantial portion of our worldwide consumer support functions to third party service
providers. If these companies experience financial difficulties, do not maintain sufficiently skilled workers and
resources to satisfy our contracts, or otherwise fail to perform at a sufficient level under these contracts, the level of
support services to our customers may be significantly disrupted, which could materially harm our relationships
with these customers.
Accounting charges may cause fluctuations in our quarterly financial results.
Our financial results have been in the past, and may continue to be in the future, materially affected by non-
cash and other accounting charges, including:
• Amortization of intangible assets, including acquired product rights
• Impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets
• Stock-based compensation expense
• Restructuring charges
• Loss on sale of a business and similar write-downs of assets held for sale
For example, during fiscal 2009, we recorded a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $7.4 billion, resulting
in a significant net loss for the year. Goodwill is evaluated annually for impairment in the fourth quarter of each
fiscal year or more frequently if events and circumstances warrant as we determined they did in the third quarter of
fiscal 2009, and our evaluation depends to a large degree on estimates and assumptions made by our management.
Our assessment of any impairment of goodwill is based on a comparison of the fair value of each of our reporting
units to the carrying value of that reporting unit. Our determination of fair value relies on management’s
assumptions of our future revenues, operating costs, and other relevant factors. If management’s estimates of
future operating results change, or if there are changes to other key assumptions such as the discount rate applied to
future operating results, the estimate of the fair value of our reporting units could change significantly, which could
result in a goodwill impairment charge. In addition, we evaluate our other long-lived assets, including intangible
assets whenever events or circumstances occur which indicate that the value of these assets might be impaired. If we
determine that impairment has occurred, we could incur an impairment charge against the value of these assets.
The foregoing types of accounting charges may also be incurred in connection with or as a result of other
business acquisitions. The price of our common stock could decline to the extent that our financial results are
materially affected by the foregoing accounting charges.
Our effective tax rate may increase, which could increase our income tax expense and reduce (increase)
our net income (loss).
Our effective tax rate could be adversely affected by several factors, many of which are outside of our control,
including:
• Changes in the relative proportions of revenues and income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which
we operate that have differing statutory tax rates
21