American Express 2002 Annual Report Download - page 88

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I86 AXP IREPORT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS
REPORT OF ERNST & YOUNG LLP INDEPENDENT AUDITORS
The Shareholders and Board of Directors of American Express Company
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of American Express Company as of December 31, 2002 and
2001, and the related consolidated statements of income, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the
period ended December 31, 2002. These financial statements are the responsibility of the management of American Express
Company. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States. Those standards
require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of
material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by manage-
ment, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis
for our opinion.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial posi-
tion of American Express Company at December 31, 2002 and 2001, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash
flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2002, in conformity with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States.
As discussed in Note 5 to the financial statements, in 2002 the Company adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards
(SFAS) No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets.”
New York, New York
January 27, 2003