Corporate Governance

Our Approach to Corporate Governance

We believe that Symantec's long-term interests are best served when the company proactively considers and addresses the interests and concerns of stockholders and other stakeholders. To that end, we engage in honest and open communication about our company's financial and governance activities and have made our Symantec Code of Conduct, the composition of our corporate committees, and all our company charters publicly available on our website.

Our Board of Directors is charged with representing the interests of our stockholders and ensuring that the company is managed in alignment with our commitment to the principles of corporate responsibility.

We have long enjoyed a favorable reputation for our corporate governance practices. As of July 1, 2009, Symantec outperformed 92.2 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 and 99.1 percent of the companies in the Software & Services group in RiskMetrics Group's Corporate Governance Quotient ranking. Symantec has also been listed on the FTSE4Good Global Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index since 2007. Last year, Symantec was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the first time. These rankings reflect the company's strong performance across a spectrum of corporate responsibility criteria.

Although we are proud of these achievements, we continually work to strengthen our performance. Below are a few highlights of our corporate governance practices:

• The nominating committee of the Board of Directors receives regular briefings on Symantec's corporate responsibility objectives and performance.
• The compensation committee of the Board of Directors undertakes rigorous review of proposed executive compensation packages to ensure a balance between fair compensation and Symantec's ability to attract and retain top talent. The process includes a comprehensive performance evaluation, comparison with other companies' practices, and consultation with compensation experts.
• We review our internal controls and strengthen our policies and procedures to ensure that our accounting systems are accurate and reliable.
• We disclose our trade association affiliations and our company position on various public policy issues.
• In the United States, Symantec has formed a political action committee (PAC), which makes contributions to political candidates on both the federal and state levels. The PAC is funded by voluntary donations made by senior-level Symantec employees and company shareholders. Symantec evaluates potential recipients of PAC funds based on their support and understanding of our key public policy issues. In FY09, Symantec's employee PAC contributions totaled $48,409.66. A complete list of candidates that have received Symantec PAC contributions can be found online.