Starbucks 2011 Annual Report Download - page 84

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
Not applicable.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that material information required to be
disclosed in our 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. Our disclosure controls and procedures are also designed to ensure that information required to be
disclosed in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our
management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer as appropriate, to allow timely
decisions regarding required disclosure.
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the
participation of our management, including our chief executive officer and our chief financial officer, of the
effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e)
and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our chief executive officer and chief financial
officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective, as of the end of the period covered by
this report (October 2, 2011).
We are in the process of implementing new and upgraded financial information technology systems. As a part of this
effort, during the third quarter of fiscal 2011 we implemented an updated version of our existing Oracle accounting
system. This update has resulted in changes to our business processes and related internal controls over financial
reporting, which have continued into the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. Management has taken the necessary steps to
update the design and documentation of internal control processes and procedures relating to the system update to
supplement and complement existing internal controls. Management will continue to monitor, evaluate and update
the related processes and internal controls as necessary during the post implementation period to ensure adequate
internal control over financial reporting.
Other than as described above, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, there were no changes in our 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 10-K.
Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management 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 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
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