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LOWE’S 2010 ANNUAL REPORT 29
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of
Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
Mooresville, North Carolina
We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of
January 28, 2011, based on criteria established in Internal Control –
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The Company’s
management is responsible 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฀an฀opinion฀on฀the฀Company’s฀internal฀
control over financial reporting based on our audit.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over
financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit
included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial
reporting,฀assessing฀the฀risk฀that฀a฀material฀weakness฀exists,฀testing฀
and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal
control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other
procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We
believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process
designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s principal
executive฀and฀principal฀nancial฀ofcers,฀or฀persons฀performing฀
similar functions, and effected by the company’s board of directors,
management, and other personnel 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 (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable
detail,฀accurately฀and฀fairly฀reect฀the฀transactions฀and฀dispositions฀
of the assets of the company; (2) 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 (3) 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 the inherent limitations of internal control over financial
reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper management
override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may
not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Also, projections of
any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial
reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the controls
may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the
degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects,
effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 28, 2011,
based on the criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated
Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of
the Treadway Commission.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the
consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal year ended
January 28, 2011 of the Company and our report dated March 28,
2011฀expressed฀an฀unqualied฀opinion฀on฀those฀nancial฀statements.
Charlotte, North Carolina
March 28, 2011