Bank of America 2015 Annual Report Download - page 131

Bank of America 2015 129
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 sheets and
the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive
income, changes in shareholders’ equity and cash flows present
fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Bank of
America Corporation and its subsidiaries at December 31, 2015
and 2014, and the results of their operations and their cash flows
for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015
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, 2015, based on criteria
established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013)
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 24, 2016