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and, consequently, we are incurring increased costs of doing business, which potentially negatively impactsour profitability and future financial results. Moreover, any potential accounting or reporting error, whetherfinancial or otherwise, if material, could damage our reputation, adversely affect our ability to conductbusiness, and decrease revenue and net income. Finally, any regulatory and legislative actions and reformsaffecting the mutual fund industry, including compliance initiatives, may negatively impact revenues byincreasing our costs of accessing or dealing in the financial markets or by making certain investmentofferings less favorable to our customers.Changes in tax laws or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could have a material impact onour financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. We are subject to income taxes as well asnon-income based taxes, in both the United States and various foreign jurisdictions and are subject toongoing tax audits in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with certain positions we havetaken and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these audits in order todetermine the appropriateness of our tax provision. However, there can be no assurance that we willaccurately predict the outcomes of these audits, and the actual outcomes of these audits could have amaterial impact on our net income or financial condition. Changes in tax laws or tax rulings couldmaterially impact our effective tax rate. For example, proposals for fundamental U.S. international taxreform, such as the recent proposal by the Obama administration, if enacted, could have a significantadverse impact on our future results of operations.Our ability to maintain the beneficial tax treatment we anticipate with respect to non-U.S. earnings wehave repatriated is based on current interpretations of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (the “JobsAct”) and permitted use of such amounts in accordance with our domestic reinvestment plan and the JobsAct. In September 2006, we completed our planned repatriation into the United States of undistributedearnings of our non-U.S. subsidiaries in accordance with our domestic reinvestment plan and the Jobs Act.However, our ability to maintain the anticipated beneficial tax treatment with respect to these non-U.S.earnings is subject to current interpretations and compliance with the Jobs Act (including Internal RevenueCode Section 965), as well as the rules and regulations promulgated by, among others, the Internal RevenueService and the United States Treasury Department. Moreover, changes in the interpretation of these rulesand regulations may have an effect on our ability to maintain the beneficial tax treatment with respect to ourrepatriated non-U.S. earnings. Our inability to appropriately use repatriated amounts for permitted purposesor to otherwise satisfy the requirements of our planned repatriation could also have a negative impact on thescope and breadth of our anticipated tax treatment with respect to such amounts.Any significant limitation or failure of our software applications, technology or other systems that arecritical to our operations could constrain our operations. We are highly dependent upon the use of variousproprietary and third-party software applications and other technology systems to operate our business. Weuse our technology to, among other things, obtain securities pricing information, process client transactions,and provide reports and other customer services to the clients of the funds we manage. Any inaccuracies,delays, or systems failures in these and other processes could subject us to client dissatisfaction and losses.Although we take protective measures, including measures to effectively secure information through systemsecurity technology, our technology systems may still be vulnerable to unauthorized access, computerviruses or other events that have a security impact, such as an authorized employee or vendor inadvertentlycausing us to release confidential information, which could materially damage our operations or cause thedisclosure or modification of sensitive or confidential information. Moreover, loss of confidential customeridentification information could harm our reputation and subject us to liability under laws that protectconfidential personal data, resulting in increased costs or loss of revenue.Further, although we take precautions to password protect our laptops and other mobile electronichardware, if such hardware is stolen, misplaced or left unattended, it may become vulnerable to hacking or26