Bank of America 2011 Annual Report Download - page 148

146 Bank of America 2011
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, 2011 and 2010, and the results of
their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years
in the period ended December 31, 2011 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, 2011, 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 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
Report of Management on Internal Control Over Financial
Reporting. 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
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.
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.
Charlotte, North Carolina
February 23, 2012