Sony 2015 Annual Report Download - page 136

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Sony Corporation (Sony Kabushiki Kaisha)
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements listed in the accompanying index present fairly, in all
material respects, the financial position of Sony Corporation and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) at March 31,
2016 and 2015, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period
ended March 31, 2016 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of
America. In addition, in our opinion, the financial statement schedule listed in the accompanying index presents
fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein when read in conjunction with the related
consolidated financial statements. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects,
effective internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2016, based on criteria established in Internal
Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO). The Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements and financial
statement schedule, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of
the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the Management’s Annual Report on
Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 15(b). Our responsibility is to express opinions
on these financial statements, on the financial statement schedule, and on the Company’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.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata
Tokyo, Japan
May 20, 2016,
except for Note 29,
as to which the date is June 17, 2016
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