Safeway 2012 Annual Report Download - page 48

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Safeway Inc.:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Safeway Inc. and subsidiaries
(the "Company") as of December 29, 2012 and December 31, 2011, and the related consolidated
statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders' equity, and cash flows for each of
the three years in the period ended December 29, 2012. We also have audited the Company's
internal control over financial reporting as of December 29, 2012, 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 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
“Management's Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting.” Our responsibility is
to express an opinion on these financial statements and an opinion on the Company's internal
control over financial reporting based on our 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 audit 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 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.