Office Depot 2007 Annual Report Download - page 40

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”) provides protection from liability in private
lawsuits for “forward-looking” statements made by public companies under certain circumstances, provided that the
public company discloses with specificity the risk factors that may impact its future results. We want to take
advantage of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Act. This Annual Report contains both historical information and
other information that you can use to infer future performance. Examples of historical information include our
annual financial statements and the commentary on past performance contained in our MD&A. While we have
specifically identified certain information as being forward-looking in the context of its presentation, we caution you
that, with the exception of information that is historical, all the information contained in this Annual Report should
be considered to be “forward-looking statements” as referred to in the Act. Without limiting the generality of the
preceding sentence, any time we use the words “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,”
“continue” and similar expressions, we intend to clearly express that the information deals with possible future
events and is forward-looking in nature. Certain information in our MD&A is clearly forward-looking in nature, and
without limiting the generality of the preceding cautionary statements, we specifically advise you to consider all of
our MD&A in the light of the cautionary statements set forth herein.
Forward-looking information involves future risks and uncertainties. Much of the information in this report that
looks towards future performance of our company is based on various factors and important assumptions about
future events that may or may not actually come true. As a result, our operations and financial results in the future
could differ materially and substantially from those we have discussed in the forward-looking statements in this
Report. Significant factors that could impact our future results are provided in Item 1A. Risk Factors included in our
2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Other risk factors are incorporated into the text of our MD&A, which should
itself be considered a statement of future risks and uncertainties, as well as management’s view of our businesses.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
See the information in the “Market Sensitive Risks and Positions” subsection of Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation set forth in Item 7 hereof.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
See Item 15(a) in Part IV.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are the company’s controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that
information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods
specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and
procedures designed to ensure that information required to be in this report is accumulated and communicated to its
management, including its principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely
decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter
how well designed and operated, can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and
management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the possible controls and procedures.
Our management has evaluated, with the participation of its principal executive officer and principal financial
officer, the effectiveness of its disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon that evaluation,
our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that, as of the end of the period
covered by this report, the company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective.