P1-48. Reading and Interpreting CEO Certifications (LO5) Following is the CEO Certification required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and signed by Apple CEO Timothy D. Cook. Apple's Chief Financial Officer signed a similar form.

Required

a. Summarize the assertions that Timothy D. Cook made in this certification.

b. Why did Congress feel it important that CEOs and CFOs sign such certifications?

c. What potential liability do you believe the CEO and CFO are assuming by signing such certifications?

I, Timothy D. Cook, certify that: 1. I have reviewed this annual 2. have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Apple Inc. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect t the period covered by this report 3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; 4. The registrant's other certifying officerts) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15() for the registrant and have (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disciosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which t report is being prepared (b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and (d) Disclose d in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the r fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or i reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting, and ased on our most recent 5. The registrant's other certifying officers) and I have disclosed, based on our most financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the evaluation of internal control over audit committee of the registrant's board of functions) (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation directors (or persons performing the equivalent of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the who registrant's ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial information; and (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting