Verizon Wireless 2008 Annual Report Download - page 39

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To The Board of Directors and Shareowners of Verizon
Communications Inc.:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of
Verizon Communications Inc. and subsidiaries (Verizon) as of December
31, 2008 and 2007, and the related consolidated statements of income,
cash flows and changes in shareowners’ investment for each of the three
years in the period ended December 31, 2008. These financial statements
are the responsibility of Verizon’s management. Our responsibility is to
express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those stan-
dards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material
misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence
supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An
audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and signifi-
cant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall
financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a
reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly,
in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Verizon
at December 31, 2008 and 2007, and the consolidated results of its
operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period
ended December 31, 2008, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted
accounting principles.
As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, Verizon changed its
methods of accounting for uncertainty in income taxes and for leveraged
lease transactions effective January 1, 2007, stock-based compensation
effective January 1, 2006 and pension and other post-retirement obliga-
tions effective December 31, 2006.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), Verizon’s internal
control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008, based on
criteria established in Internal Control–Integrated Framework issued
by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission and our report dated February 20, 2009 expressed an
unqualified opinion thereon.
Ernst & Young LLP
New York, New York
February 20, 2009
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting
may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evalua-
tion 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, Verizon maintained, in all material respects, effective
internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008, based
on the COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated
balance sheets of Verizon as of December 31, 2008 and 2007, and the
related consolidated statements of income, cash flows and changes in
shareowners’ investment for each of the three years in the period ended
December 31, 2008 of Verizon and our report dated February 20, 2009
expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Ernst & Young LLP
New York, New York
February 20, 2009
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting
Firm on Financial Statements