Cisco Systems - Corporate Governance

Investor confidence in public companies is essential to the functioning of the global economy. At this website, we intend to provide you with key information about our corporate governance policies. These policies provide a framework for the proper operation of our company, consistent with our shareholders' best interests and the requirements of the law.

Ensuring that Cisco's financial results fairly reflect the results of our operations is of paramount importance to this company and our investors. At Cisco, we have always been diligent in maintaining compliance with our established financial accounting policies, which are consistent with requirements of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and for reporting our results with objectivity and the highest degree of integrity. We are committed to providing financial information that is transparent, timely, complete, relevant and accurate.

We are also committed to rigorously and diligently exercising our oversight responsibilities throughout the company, managing our affairs consistent with the highest principles of business ethics, and exceeding the corporate governance requirements of both federal law and the NASDAQ. The steps we have taken to fulfill this commitment include:

Our Board has adopted clear corporate governance policies
Our Board has adopted majority voting for uncontested elections of directors
A majority of our Board members are independent of Cisco and its management
All members of our key Board committees -- the Audit Committee, the Compensation and Management Development Committee, and the Nomination and Governance Committee -- are independent
The independent members of our Board meet regularly without the presence of management
We have a clear code of business conduct and corporate governance that is monitored by our ethics office and is annually affirmed by our employees
The charters of our Board committees clearly establish their respective roles and responsibilities
We have an ethics office with a hotline available to all employees, and our Audit Committee has procedures in place for the anonymous submission of employee complaints on accounting, internal controls, or auditing matters
We have adopted a code of ethics that applies to our principal executive officer and all members of our finance department, including the principal financial officer and principal accounting officer
We have adopted a compensation recoupment policy that applies to our executive officers
Our internal audit control function maintains critical oversight over the key areas of our business and financial processes and controls, and reports directly to our Audit Committee

We are dedicated to ensuring that the high standards of financial accounting and reporting we have established are maintained. Our culture demands integrity and an unyielding commitment to strong internal practices and policies. We have the highest confidence in our financial reporting, underlying system of internal controls and our people, who are objective in their responsibilities and operate under the highest level of ethical standards. We thank you for the confidence you have placed in us.

John T. Chambers
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Frank Calderoni
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Committee Charters	View
Audit Committee Charter		22.8 KB
Acquisition Committee		30.5 KB
Compensation and Management Development Committee		374.3 KB
Investment / Finance Committee		34.9 KB
Nomination and Governance Committee		29.9 KB