Apple 2006 Annual Report Download - page 21

Environmental Laws
Compliance with federal, state, local, and foreign laws enacted for the protection of the environment has to date had no material effect on the
Company’s capital expenditures, earnings, or competitive position. In the future, these laws could have a material adverse effect on the
Company.
Production and marketing of products in certain states and countries may subject the Company to environmental and other regulations
including, in some instances, the requirement to provide customers the ability to return product at the end of its useful life, and place
responsibility for environmentally safe disposal or recycling with the Company. Such laws and regulations have recently been passed in several
jurisdictions in which the Company operates including various European Union member countries, Japan and certain states within the U.S.
Although the Company does not anticipate any material adverse effects in the future based on the nature of its operations and the thrust of such
laws, there is no assurance that such existing laws or future laws will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition,
liquidity, or results of operations.
Employees
As of September 30, 2006, the Company had 17,787 full-time equivalent employees and an additional 2,399 temporary equivalent employees
and contractors.
Available Information
The Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports
filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). Such reports and other information filed by the Company with the SEC are available on the Company’s website at
http://www.apple.com/investor when such reports are available on the SEC website. The public may read and copy any materials filed by the
Company with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain
information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site that
contains reports, proxy, and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at
http://www.sec.gov. The contents of these websites are not incorporated into this filing. Further, the Company’s references to the URLs for
these websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Because of the following factors, as well as other factors affecting the Company’s operating results and financial condition, past financial
performance should not be considered to be a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to
anticipate results or trends in future periods.
The matters relating to the investigation by the Special Committee of the Board of Directors and the restatement of the Company’s
consolidated financial statements may result in additional litigation and governmental enforcement actions.
On June 29, 2006, the Company announced that an internal review had discovered irregularities related to the issuance of certain stock option
grants made between 1997 and 2001, including a grant to its Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), Steve Jobs. The Company also announced a
Special Committee of outside directors (“Special Committee”) had been formed and had hired independent counsel to conduct a full
investigation of the Company’s past stock option granting practices. As described in the Explanatory Note immediately preceding Part I,
Item 1, and in Note 2 “Restatement of Consolidated Financial Statements” in Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K, as
a result of the internal review and independent investigation, management has concluded, and the Audit and Finance Committee agrees, that
incorrect measurement dates were used for financial accounting purposes for stock option grants made in
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