Walgreens 2005 Annual Report Download - page 35

2005 Annual Report 33
Report of Independent Registered
Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Walgreen Co.:
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying
Management’s Report on Internal Control, that Walgreen Co. and Subsidiaries
(the “Company”) maintained effective internal control over financial reporting
as of August 31, 2005, 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.
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 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.
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, management’s assessment that the Company maintained effective
internal control over financial reporting as of August 31, 2005, is fairly stated, in all
material respects, based on the criteria established in
Internal Control – Integrated
Framework
issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects,
effective internal control over financial reporting as of August 31, 2005, 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 August 31, 2005 of the Company and our report dated
October 21, 2005 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Chicago, Illinois
October 21, 2005