Basis Of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Jul. 01, 2011

Basis Of Presentation

Basis Of Presentation

Note 1. Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Symantec Corporation ("we," "us," "our," and "the Company" refer to Symantec Corporation and all of its subsidiaries) as of July 1, 2011 and April 1, 2011, and for the three months ended July 1, 2011 and July 2, 2010, have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America for interim financial information and with the instructions on Form 10-Q pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). In accordance with those rules and regulations, we have omitted certain information and notes normally provided in our annual consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring items, except as otherwise noted, necessary for the fair presentation of our financial position and results of operations for the interim periods. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 1, 2011. The results of operations for the three months ended July 1, 2011 are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for the entire fiscal year. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

Significant Accounting Policies

There have been no changes in our significant accounting policies for the three months ended July 1, 2011 as compared to the significant accounting policies described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 1, 2011.

Recently Issued and Adopted Authoritative Guidance

In May 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-04, "Fair Value Measurements (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs," ("ASU 2011-04"). ASU 2011-04 changes the wording used to describe many of the requirements in U.S. GAAP for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements to ensure consistency between U.S. GAAP and IFRS. ASU 2011-04 also expands the disclosures for fair value measurements that are estimated using significant unobservable (Level 3) inputs. This new guidance is to be applied prospectively for reporting periods beginning on or after December 15, 2011. We anticipate that the adoption of this standard will not materially impact our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

In June 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No.  2011-05, "Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income," ("ASU 2011-05"). ASU 2011-05 eliminates the option to report other comprehensive income and its components in the statement of changes in equity. ASU 2011-05 requires that all nonowner changes in stockholders' equity be presented in either a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. This new guidance is to be applied retrospectively for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011.  We anticipate that the adoption of this standard will not materially impact our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2012, we adopted updated authoritative accounting guidance related to impairment testing of goodwill.  The guidance modified Step 1 of the impairment test for reporting units with zero or negative carrying amounts whereby an entity is required to perform Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test if it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists.  We performed a Step 2 test on our Services reporting unit due to certain adverse qualitative factors within the reporting unit, which resulted in a goodwill impairment of $19 million. This impairment was recorded to beginning Accumulated deficit as a cumulative-effect adjustment upon adoption.