Bank of America 2007 Annual Report Download - page 115

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Bank of America Corporation and Subsidiaries
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders
of Bank of America Corporation:
In our opinion, the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheet and
the related Consolidated Statement of Income, Consolidated Statement of
Changes in Shareholders’ Equity and Consolidated Statement of Cash
Flows present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Bank
of America Corporation and its subsidiaries at December 31, 2007 and
2006, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of
the three years in the period ended December 31, 2007 in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Also in our opinion, the Corporation maintained, in all material respects,
effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31,
2007, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated
Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission (COSO). The Corporation’s management is respon-
sible for these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal con-
trol over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of
internal control over financial reporting, included in the Report of Manage-
ment on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting appearing on page 112
of the 2007 Annual Report to Shareholders. Our responsibility is to
express opinions on these financial statements and on the Corporation’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 assur-
ance about whether the financial statements are free of material
misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial report-
ing 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 manage-
ment, 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 –Summary of Significant Accounting Princi-
ples to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the Corporation has
adopted SFAS No. 157, “Fair Value Measurements” and SFAS No. 159,
“The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities.”
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 dis-
positions 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 pre-
vention 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 dete-
riorate.
Charlotte, North Carolina
February 20, 2008
Bank of America 2007 113