Bank of America 2008 Annual Report Download - page 117

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, 2008
and 2007, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for
each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2008 in con-
formity 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, 2008, based on criteria established in Internal Control –
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Orga-
nizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). The Corporation’s
management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintain-
ing effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assess-
ment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting,
included in the Report of Management on Internal Control Over Financial
Reporting appearing on page 114 of the 2008 Annual Report to Share-
holders. Our responsibility is to express opinions on these financial
statements and on the Corporation’s internal control over financial report-
ing based on our integrated audits. We conducted our audits in accord-
ance 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 finan-
cial 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 report-
ing 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 19 – Fair Value Disclosures to the Consolidated
Financial Statements, as of the beginning of 2007 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 direc-
tors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding
prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or dis-
position 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.
Charlotte, North Carolina
February 25, 2009
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