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AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT
REGISTERED PUBLIC
ACCOUNTING FIRM
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS OF
AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY:
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance sheets
and the related consolidated statements of income, cash flows
and shareholders’ equity present fairly, in all material respects,
the financial position of American Express Company and its
subsidiaries at December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the results of
their operations and their cash flows for each of the years in the
three-year period ended December 31, 2010, in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of
America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all
material respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2010, based on criteria
established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued
by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO). The Company’s management is
responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining
effective internal control over financial reporting and for its
assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial
reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report
on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our
responsibility is to express opinions on these financial
statements and on the Company’s internal control over
financial reporting based on our integrated audits. We
conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States).
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial
statements are free of material misstatement and whether
effective internal control over financial reporting was
maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the financial
statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence
supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements, assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, and evaluating
the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of
internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an
understanding of internal control over financial reporting,
assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing
and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal
control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included
performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in
the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a
reasonable basis for our opinions.
As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial
statements, the Company adopted new guidance in 2010
relating to transfers of financial assets and consolidation of
variable interest entities.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a
process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding
the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
financial statements for external purposes in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal
control over financial reporting includes those policies and
procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records
that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the
transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company;
(ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are
recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial
statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company
are being made only in accordance with authorizations of
management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide
reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection
of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s
assets that could have a material effect on the
financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over
financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements.
Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future
periods are subject to the risk that controls may become
inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the
degree of compliance with the policies or procedures
may deteriorate.
New York, New York
February 25, 2011
66