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18. Commitments and Contingencies
Purchase obligations, which include all legally binding contracts, such as firm commitments for inventory purchases, merchandise royalties, equipment purchases, marketing-related contracts, software acquisition/license commitments and service contracts, were $1,396 million and $1,907 million at January 28, 2012 and January 29, 2011, respectively. We issue inventory purchase orders, which represent authorizations to purchase that are cancelable by their terms. We do not consider purchase orders to be firm inventory commitments. If we choose to cancel a purchase order, we may be obligated to reimburse the vendor for unrecoverable outlays incurred prior to cancellation. We also issue trade letters of credit in the ordinary course of business, which are not obligations given they are conditioned on terms of the letter of credit being met.
Trade letters of credit totaled $1,516 million and $1,522 million at January 28, 2012 and January 29, 2011, respectively, a portion of which are reflected in accounts payable. Standby letters of credit, relating primarily to retained risk on our insurance claims, totaled $66 million and $71 million at January 28, 2012 and January 29, 2011, respectively.
We are exposed to claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business and use various methods to resolve these matters in a manner that we believe serves the best interest of our shareholders and other constituents. We believe the recorded reserves in our consolidated financial statements are adequate in light of the probable and estimable liabilities. We do not believe that any of the currently identified claims or litigation will be material to our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. |