Our significant accounting policies were described in Note 2 to our audited Consolidated Financial Statements included in our 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2010. Other than the adoption of the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") guidance related to accounting for revenue recognition, there have been no significant changes in our accounting policies for the third quarter of fiscal year 2011.

In September 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update, Testing Goodwill for Impairment (the revised standard). The revised standard is intended to reduce the cost and complexity of the annual goodwill impairment test by providing entities an option to perform a "qualitative" assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary. The revised standard is effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011. An entity can choose to early adopt if its annual test date is before the issuance of the final standard, provided that the entity has not yet performed its 2011 annual impairment test or issued its financial statements. Entities considering early adoption should begin assessing relevant factors for the qualitative assessment. An entity has the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the current two-step test. If an entity believes, as a result of its qualitative assessment, that it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the quantitative impairment test is required. Otherwise, no further testing is required. We are currently evaluating the early adoption option. We do not expect the adoption or early adoption of this update to have an impact on our consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

In December 2010, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update Disclosure of Supplementary Pro Forma Information for Business Combinations (Topic 805)—Business Combinations, to improve consistency in how the pro forma disclosures are calculated. Additionally, the update enhances the disclosure requirements and requires description of the nature and amount of any material, nonrecurring pro forma adjustments directly attributable to a business combination. The guidance is effective for us in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 and should be applied prospectively to business combinations for which the acquisition date is after the effective date. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the potential impact, if any, of the adoption of the guidance on our consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

In September 2009, the FASB issued authoritative revenue recognition guidance on accounting for multiple elements in an arrangement and how total consideration should be allocated amongst the various elements. It also expands disclosure requirements for multiple element arrangements. Concurrently, the FASB also issued authoritative guidance for arrangements that include both software and tangible products that excludes tangible products and certain related elements from the scope of the revenue recognition authoritative guidance specific to software transactions. Both standards must be adopted in the same period and can either be applied on a prospective basis for revenue arrangements entered into or materially modified in fiscal years beginning on or after June 15, 2010, with earlier application permitted, or be adopted on a retrospective basis. In April 2010, FASB Emerging Issues Task Force issued a consensus on Milestone Method of Revenue Recognition which amended disclosure requirements on accounting policy and arrangements for revenue transactions counting under the milestone method. The amendments are effective on a prospective basis for milestones achieved in fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning on or after June 15, 2010. We adopted this guidance in the first quarter of fiscal year 2011 and there was no material impact on our consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

Revenue Recognition

License revenue consists principally of revenue earned under software license agreements. License revenue is generally recognized when a signed contract or other persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, the software has been shipped or electronically delivered, the license fee is fixed or determinable and collection of the resulting receivable is probable. When contracts contain multiple software and software-related elements (for example software license, maintenance, and professional services) wherein Vendor-Specific Objective Evidence ("VSOE") exists for all undelivered elements, we account for the delivered elements in accordance with the "Residual Method." VSOE of fair value for maintenance and support is established by a stated renewal rate, if substantive, included in the license arrangement or rates charged in stand-alone sales of maintenance and support. Revenue from subscription license agreements, which include software, rights to unspecified future products and maintenance, is recognized ratably over the term of the subscription period.

Provided all other revenue criteria are met, the upfront, minimum, non-refundable license fees from Original Equipment Manufacturer ("OEM") customers are generally recognized upon delivery, and on-going royalty fees are generally recognized upon reports of units shipped. Revenue on shipments to resellers is recognized when evidence of an end-user arrangement exists and recorded net of related costs to the resellers.

Professional services revenue consists primarily of revenue received for assisting with the implementation of our software, on-site support, training and other consulting services. Many customers who license our software also enter into separate professional services arrangements with us. In determining whether professional services revenue should be accounted for separately from license revenue, we evaluate whether the professional services are considered essential to the functionality of the software using factors such as the nature of our software products; whether they are ready for use by the customer upon receipt; the nature of our implementation services, which typically do not involve significant customization to or development of the underlying software code; the availability of services from other vendors; whether the timing of payments for license revenue is coincident with performance of services; and whether milestones or acceptance criteria exist that affect the realizability of the software license fee. Substantially all of our professional services arrangements are billed on a time and materials basis and, accordingly, are recognized as the services are performed. Contracts with fixed or not-to-exceed fees are recognized on a proportional performance model based on actual services performed. If there is significant uncertainty about the project completion or receipt of payment for professional services, revenue is deferred until the uncertainty is sufficiently resolved. Training revenue is recognized as training services are delivered. VSOE of fair value of consulting and training services is based upon stand-alone sales of those services. Payments received in advance of consulting or training services performed are deferred and recognized when the related services are performed. Work performed and expenses incurred in advance of invoicing are recorded as unbilled receivables. These amounts are billed in the subsequent month. Our service and maintenance revenue includes reimbursable expenses of $8.3 million and $7.5 million for the nine months ended August 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

For arrangements that do not qualify for separate accounting for the license and professional services revenues, including arrangements that involve significant modification or customization of the software, that include milestones or customer specific acceptance criteria that may affect collection of the software license fees, or where payment for the software license is tied to the performance of professional services, software license revenue is generally recognized together with the professional services revenue using either the percentage-of-completion or completed-contract method. The completed contract method is used for contracts where there is a risk over final acceptance by the customer or for contracts that are short term in nature. Under the percentage-of-completion method, revenue recognized is equal to the ratio of costs expended to date to the anticipated total contract costs, based on current estimates of costs to complete the project. If there are milestones or acceptance provisions associated with the contract, the revenue recognized will not exceed the most recent milestone achieved or acceptance obtained. If the total estimated costs to complete a project exceed the total contract amount, indicating a loss, the entire anticipated loss would be recognized in the current period.

Maintenance revenue consists of fees for providing software updates on a when-and-if available basis and technical support for software products ("post-contract customer support" or "PCS"). Maintenance revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the agreement.

Payments received in advance of services performed are deferred. Allowances for estimated future returns and discounts are provided for upon recognition of revenue.

In October 2009, the FASB amended the accounting standards for certain multiple deliverable revenue arrangements to:

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provide updated guidance on whether multiple deliverables exist, how the deliverables in an arrangement should be separated, and how the consideration should be allocated;

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require an entity to allocate revenue in an arrangement using the estimated selling price ("ESP") of deliverables if a vendor does not have VSOE of selling price or third-party evidence ("TPE") of selling price; and

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eliminate the use of the residual method and require an entity to allocate revenue using the relative selling price method.

We occasionally enter into multiple element revenue arrangements in which a customer may purchase a combination of software licenses, hosting services, maintenance, professional services and hardware. For multiple element arrangements that contain non-software related elements, for example our hosting services, we allocate revenue to each non-software element based upon the relative selling price of each, and if software and software-related elements are also included in the arrangement, to those elements as a group based on our ESP for the group. When applying the relative selling price method, we determine the selling price for each deliverable using VSOE of selling price, if it exists, then TPE of selling price. If neither VSOE nor TPE of selling price exist for a deliverable, we use our ESP for that deliverable. Revenue allocated to each element is then recognized when the basic revenue recognition criteria is met for each element. The manner in which we account for multiple element arrangements that contain only software and software-related elements remains unchanged. Our non-software components of tangible products and software do not function together to provide the essential functionality of the product.

Consistent with our methodology under previous accounting guidance, we determine VSOE for each element based on historical stand-alone sales to third-parties or from the stated renewal rate for the elements contained in the initial software license arrangement. When we are unable to establish selling prices using VSOE or TPE, we use ESP in our allocation of arrangement consideration. The objective of ESP is to determine the price at which we would transact a sale if the product or service were sold on a stand-alone basis. We determine ESP by considering multiple factors, including, but not limited to, geographies, market conditions, competitive landscape, internal costs, gross margin objectives, and pricing practices. ESP is generally used for offerings that are not typically sold on a stand-alone basis or for new or highly customized offerings.

We regularly review VSOE and have established a review process for TPE and ESP and maintain internal controls over the establishment and updates of these estimates. There was no material impact to revenue during the three and nine months ended August 31, 2011 resulting from changes in VSOE, TPE or ESP.