Starbucks 2007 Annual Report Download - page 75

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with
Accountants on Accounting and Financial
Disclosure
Not applicable.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
The Company maintains disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that material information
required to be disclosed in the Company’s periodic reports filed or submitted 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. Starbucks disclosure controls and procedures are also designed to ensure that
information required to be disclosed in the reports the Company files or submits under the Exchange Act is
accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including its principal executive officer and
principal financial officer as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
During the quarter the Company carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of the
Company’s management, including the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer, of the effectiveness of
the design and operation of the disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)
under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, the Company’s chief executive officer and chief financial
officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective, as of the end of the period
covered by this report (September 30, 2007).
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, there were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that materially affected or are
reasonably likely to materially affect internal control over financial reporting.
The certifications required by Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are filed as exhibits 31.1 and 31.2,
respectively, to this Form 10-K.
Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The management of Starbucks is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over
financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding
the reliability of our financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States of America. Internal control over financial reporting includes maintaining records that
in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions; providing reasonable assurance that transactions
are recorded as necessary for preparation of our financial statements; providing reasonable assurance that receipts
and expenditures are made in accordance with management authorization; and providing reasonable assurance that
unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of company assets that could have a material effect on our financial
statements would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control
over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that a misstatement of our financial statements
would be prevented or detected.
Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on
the framework and criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework, issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. This evaluation included review of the documentation of
controls, evaluation of the design effectiveness of controls, testing of the operating effectiveness of controls and a
conclusion on this evaluation. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that the Company’s internal control
over financial reporting was effective as of September 30, 2007.
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