A sales-based ranking of software companies provided by Yahoo! Finance on November 5, 2008, places Oracle Corporation third behind sales leaders Microsoft Corporation and IBM Software. Typical of high-tech companies in the software industry, Oracle Corporation uses share-based compensation plans extensively to motivate its employees. In Note 11 of its May 31, 2008, annual report, Oracle states that it settles employee stock option exercises primarily with newly issued common shares.

As indicated by the selected data from Oracle's May 31, 2008, consolidated balance sheet in Exhibit 7.20, Oracle finances operations using substantially more common shareholder's equity than it does long-term debt. However, Oracle's long-term debt to shareholders' equity ratio of 44.5% is substantially larger than that of major U.S. competitor Microsoft Corporation and major foreign competitor SAP AG, both of which report almost no long-term financial debt. Exhibit 7.21 presents the consolidated statement of shareholders' equity for 2008. Exhibit 7.22 presents portions of financial statement Notes 10 and 11.

REQUIRED
a. Compute Oracle's long-term debt to shareholders' equity ratio for May 31, 2008 and 2007. Identify the increases in shareholders' equity in 2008 from share-based compensation plans. Calculate the long-term debt to shareholders' equity ratio that would have occurred had Oracle not implemented the stock repurchase plan. Comment on the potential effect on future ROE of Oracle's financing strategy.
b. Retained earnings increase because of net income and decrease because of dividends declared. Why, then, did Oracle decrease retained earnings when it repurchased common stock?
c. Of the first five changes listed in the shareholders' equity section, one of them, the common stock repurchase, clearly represents a cash outflow. Identify the cash flow effects of the other four items. Where will each cash flow effect be reported in the statement of cash flows?
d. Oracle engages in many transactions with nonowners (that is, customers, suppliers, and the government) that increase net assets. For example, Oracle's foreign subsidiaries perform services on credit with unrelated third-party customers. The accounts receivable generated by the transactions are denominated in a foreign currency and thus are reported on the foreign subsidiaries' balance sheet in that foreign currency. The consolidation process causes the subsidiary's accounts receivable to be added to the parent company's (Oracle's) accounts receivable and reported on Oracle's Consolidated Balance Sheet. Assuming that the foreign currency strengthens relative to the U.S. dollar, how does Oracle's Consolidated Statement of Shareholders' Equity capture the increases in accounts receivable described in this example transaction?

e. Using the foreign currency translation gain of $300 million as a context, present an argument for including the gain on Oracle€™s income statement and an argument for excluding the gain as Oracle does under U.S. GAAP.
f. Under Oracle€™s Employee Stock Purchase Plan, employees can purchase common shares at 95% of their fair values. Will Oracle report a loss on this transaction? Why or why not?

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Exhibit 7.21 Oracle Corporation Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity at May 31, 2008 (in millions of dollars) (Case 7.2) Common Stock and Additional Paid-in Capital Acaumulated Number Other Comprehensive of Shares Retained Comprehensive Income Amount Earnings Income Total Balances as of May 31, 2007 Common stock iss ued under stock award plans Common stock iss ued under stock purchase plans Assumption of stock award in conjunction with 5,107 $10,293 $ 6,223 $403 $16,919 137 1,229 1,229 59 59 acquisitions 240 240 Stock-based compensation 367 367 Repurchase of common stock (97) (214) (1, 786) (2,000) Tax benefits from stock plans Adjustment to retained earnings upon adoption of FIN 48 472 472 Net unrea lized loss on defined benefit plan assets, net of tax $ (9) (9) (9) Foreign currency translation 300 300 300 Net unrealized losses on derivative financial instruments, net of tax (77) (77) (77) Net unrealized gain on marketable securities, net of tax Net income 5,521 $5,736 5,521 5,521 Comprehensive income Balances as of May 31, 2008 5,150 $12,446 $ 9,961 $6 18 $23,025