Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Jul. 28, 2012

Basis of Presentation

1. Basis of Presentation

The fiscal year for Cisco Systems, Inc. (the “Company” or “Cisco”) is the 52 or 53 weeks ending on the last Saturday in July. Fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2011 are each 52-week fiscal years, while fiscal 2010 is a 53-week fiscal year. The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Cisco and its subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. The Company conducts business globally and is primarily managed on a geographic basis. Beginning in fiscal 2012, the Company is organized into the following three geographic segments: the Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (“EMEA”); and Asia Pacific, Japan, and China (“APJC”). In fiscal 2011, the Company was organized into the following four geographic segments: United States and Canada, European Markets, Emerging Markets, and Asia Pacific Markets. As a result of this geographic segment change in fiscal 2012, countries within the former Emerging Markets segment were consolidated into either EMEA or the Americas segment depending on their respective geographic locations. The Company has reclassified the geographic segment data for prior periods to conform to the current year’s presentation.

The Company consolidates its investment in Insieme Networks, Inc. (“Insieme”) and a venture fund managed by SOFTBANK Corp. and its affiliates (“SOFTBANK”) as these are variable interest entities and the Company is the primary beneficiary. The noncontrolling interests attributed to SOFTBANK are presented as a separate component from the Company’s equity in the equity section of the Consolidated Balance Sheets. SOFTBANK’s share of the earnings in the venture fund is not presented separately in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and is included in other income, net, as this amount is not material for any of the fiscal periods presented. The loss attributable to the noncontrolling interests on Insieme (see Note 12) is not presented separately in the Consolidated Statements of Operations as this amount is not material for the periods presented.

In addition to the geographic segment change referred to earlier, certain other reclassifications have been made to the amounts for prior years in order to conform to the current year’s presentation, which includes the combination of the Company’s financing receivables from a former two classes into a single class (see Note 7) and re-categorization of the Company’s products (see Note 16). The Company has evaluated subsequent events through the date that the financial statements were issued.