Disclosures about Market Risk 

In the normal course of business and consistent with established policies and procedures, we employ a variety of financial instruments to manage exposure to fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies and interest rates. It is our policy to utilize these financial instruments only where necessary to finance our business and manage such exposures; we do not enter into these transactions for trading or speculative purposes. 

We are exposed to foreign currency fluctuations, primarily as a result of our international sales, product sourcing and funding activities. Our foreign exchange risk management program is intended to lessen both the positive and negative effects of currency fluctuations on our consolidated results of operations, financial position and cash flows. We use forward and options contracts to hedge certain anticipated but not yet firmly committed transactions as well as certain firm commitments and the related receivables and payables, including third-party and intercompany transactions. We have, in the past, and may, in the future, also use forward or options contracts to hedge our investment in the net assets of certain international subsidiaries to offset foreign currency translation adjustments related to our net investment in those subsidiaries. Where exposures are hedged, our program has the effect of delaying the impact of exchange rate movements on our Consolidated Financial Statements. 

The timing for hedging exposures, as well as the type and duration of the hedge instruments employed, are guided by our hedging policies and determined based upon the nature of the exposure and prevailing market conditions. Typically, the Company may enter into hedge contracts starting up to 12 to 24 months in advance of the forecasted transaction and may place incremental hedges up to 100% of the exposure by the time the forecasted transaction occurs. The majority of derivatives outstanding as of May 31, 2015 are designated as foreign currency cash flow hedges, primarily for Euro/U.S. Dollar, British Pound/Euro and Japanese Yen/U.S. Dollar currency pairs. See section “Foreign Currency Exposures and Hedging Practices” under Item 7 for additional detail. 

Our earnings are also exposed to movements in short- and long-term market interest rates. Our objective in managing this interest rate exposure is to limit the impact of interest rate changes on earnings and cash flows and to reduce overall borrowing costs. To achieve these objectives, we maintain a mix of commercial paper, bank loans, fixed-rate debt of varying maturities and have entered into receive-fixed, pay-variable interest rate swaps for a portion of our fixed-rate debt as well as pay-fixed, receive-variable forward-starting interest rate swaps for cash outflows of interest payments on future debt. 

Market Risk Measurement 

We monitor foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk and related derivatives using a variety of techniques including a review of market value, sensitivity analysis and Value-at-Risk (“VaR”). Our market-sensitive derivative and other financial instruments are foreign currency forward contracts, foreign currency option