Project Overview

The objective of the project is for you to improve your understanding of accounting concepts and become familiar with the contents of a companys annual report, Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (which is also referred to as an annual report) and a proxy statement for Cisco Systems, Inc. which is a publicly-held company. This project involves your preparing written answers to the questions below based on the information provided in these documents.

Selected Company: Cisco Systems, Inc.

You will go to the website for Cisco Systems Inc. and obtain a copy of the SEC Form 10-K (2011) annual report and the Proxy Statement (2011) filed with the SEC. To access these documents, go to http://investor.cisco.com/sec.cfm?NavSection=SEC Under SEC Filings-Scroll down All Form Types for year 2011 (located under SEC Filings) and click on Annual Filings, then download 10K Annual Report filed Sept.14, 2011 blue symbol (first 136 pages). For the Proxy, Go back to SEC Filings- All Form Types for 2011 scroll down and click on Proxy Filings, then download Form DEF 14A Definitive Proxy Statement filed Oct. 18, 2011 (first 67 pages).

Questions

Include in your report the answers to the questions listed below. Also, remember to include the source of your answer, by indicating the document (SEC Form 10-K, and Proxy Statement) and page number. Please be specific and concise.

I. Background information

a.Name of the company

b.Fiscal year covered by the annual report

c.Stock exchange where shares are traded and stock ticker symbol

d.State of incorporation

e.Describe the companys business(es), e.g., types of products manufactured.

II. Management and Audit report

a.Who are the companys auditors?

b.What opinion did the auditors issue?

c.Did the auditors examine all the evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in all of the financial statements? Explain.

d.What is the auditors responsibility for the financial statements?

e.What is managements responsibility for the financial statements?

f.Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, reports on internal control are required. Did the companys management acknowledge its responsibility for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting? What is the auditors opinion on the effectiveness of the companys internal controls?

g.What was their internal control system designed to do?

h.In accordance with what standards did the auditors conduct the audit?

III. Profitability

a.What is the net income for the year covered by the report? How does net income compare to previous years? Why did net income increase or decrease?

b.When is revenue recognized?

c.What effective income tax rate is the company experiencing?

d.What are the extraordinary gains or losses if any? Explain.

IV. Assets

a.What is the companys largest current asset?

b.What items are classified as cash equivalents?

c.What are restricted assets? How much restricted assets reported in the fiscal year 2007.

d.What was the balance at year end for Allowance for Doubtful Accounts for accounts receivables?

e.What categories of inventory does the company report on its balance sheet? What inventory accounting method(s) does the company utilize?

f.What are the companys depreciable assets? What method(s) of depreciation does the company use?

g.What kinds of intangible assets does the company have?

h.How much goodwill is on the balance sheet and how is it defined?

V. Liabilities

a.What is the companys major liability?

b.How much does the company owe within the next fiscal year?

c.How much long-term debt is due and payable? How much of the long-term debt is due within the next fiscal year?

VI. Stockholders equity

a.What are the different classes of stock issued by the company?

b.How many shares of common stock were issued? What is the par value of the stock?

c.What were the number of shares and cost of the treasury stock held by the company at year-end?

d.Were cash dividends paid? When? Who makes these decisions?

e.For the current period, what does the Statement of Stockholders Equity tell you about Retained Earnings and Treasury Stock?

VII. Earnings per share

a.What is the amount of basic earnings per share (EPS) being reported?

b.Have EPS increased or decreased since the prior year? By how much.

VIII. Business segments

a.How many business segments does the company have?

b.If applicable, what are the revenues for the largest business segment?

c.If applicable, what is the income of the smallest segment?

IX. Cash flows

a.How much cash was provided by operating activities?

b.What is the major investing activity occurred during the period?

c.What is the major financing activity occurred during the period?

d.What was the net change in cash during the period?

X. Proxy statement

a.Briefly describe the issues that the stockholders voted on at the annual meeting of the shareholders.

b.What are the standing committees of the Board of Directors?

c.How often are Directors elected and what is their term of office?

d.What were the audit fees charged by the outside audit firm? What were the other non-audit fees?

e.What was the total compensation of the highest paid executive? What was included in the compensation?