Sprint - Nextel 2006 Annual Report Download - page 81

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors and Shareholders
Sprint Nextel Corporation:
We have audited management’s assessment, included in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial
Reporting, appearing in Item 9A. Controls and Procedures, that Sprint Nextel Corporation maintained effective
internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, based on criteria established in Internal
Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO). Sprint Nextel Corporation’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.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on management’s assessment and an opinion on the effectiveness of 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, evaluating management’s assessment, testing
and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control, 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 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 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.
In our opinion, management’s assessment that Sprint Nextel Corporation maintained effective internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on criteria established in
Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO). Also, in our opinion, Sprint Nextel Corporation maintained, in all material respects, effective
internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, based on criteria established in Internal
Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO).
Sprint Nextel Corporation acquired Nextel Partners, Inc. in June 2006, and management excluded from its
assessment of the effectiveness of Sprint Nextel Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting as of
December 31, 2006, Nextel Partners, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting. The accounts of Nextel Partners,
Inc. represent about 2% of the total assets and net operating revenues included in the consolidated financial
statements of Sprint Nextel Corporation and subsidiaries as of and for the year ended December 31, 2006. Our audit
of internal control over financial reporting of Sprint Nextel Corporation also excluded an evaluation of the internal
control over financial reporting of Nextel Partners, Inc.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United
States), the consolidated balance sheets of Sprint Nextel Corporation and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2006 and
2005, and the related consolidated statements of operations, cash flows and shareholders’ equity for each of the
years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2006, and our report dated March 1, 2007 expressed an
unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
McLean, Virginia
March 1, 2007
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