Microsoft 2008 Annual Report Download - page 70

PAGE 69
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Microsoft Corporation:
We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Microsoft Corporation and subsidiaries (the
“Company”) as of June 30, 2008, 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 Report of Management 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 financial officers, 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 reflect 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 June 30, 2008, 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 year ended June 30, 2008 of the Company
and our report dated July 31, 2008 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and included
an explanatory paragraph regarding the Company’s adoption of Financial Accounting Standards Board
Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes – an interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109
and Emerging Issues Task Force Issue No. 06-2, Accounting for Sabbatical Leave and Other Similar Benefits
Pursuant to FASB Statement No. 43.
/s/ DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Seattle, Washington
July 31, 2008