Walmart 1998 Annual Report Download - page 38

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS
The Board of Directors and Shareholders,
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets
of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Subsidiaries as of January 31, 1998
and 1997, and the related consolidated statements of income,
shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in
the period ended January 31, 1998. These financial statements
are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial
statements based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with generally accepted
auditing standards. Those standards 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
significant 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 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Subsidiaries at January 31, 1998
and 1997, and the consolidated results of their operations and
their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended
January 31, 1998, in conformity with generally accepted
accounting principles.
Tulsa, Oklahoma
March 24, 1998
The financial statements and information of Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc. and Subsidiaries presented in this Report have been
prepared by management which has responsibility for their
integrity and objectivity. These financial statements have been
prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles, applying certain estimates and judgments based upon
currently available information and management’s view of
current conditions and circumstances.
Management has developed and maintains a system of accounting
and controls, including an extensive internal audit program,
designed to provide reasonable assurance that the Company’s
assets are protected from improper use and that accounting
records provide a reliable basis for the preparation of financial
statements. This system is continually reviewed, improved and
modified in response to changing business conditions and
operations, and to recommendations made by the independent
auditors and the internal auditors. Management believes that the
accounting and control systems provide reasonable assurance
that assets are safeguarded and financial information is reliable.
The Company has adopted a Statement of Ethics to guide our
management in the continued observance of high ethical standards
of honesty, integrity and fairness in the conduct of the business and
in accordance with the law. Compliance with the guidelines and
standards is periodically reviewed and is acknowledged, in
writing, by all management associates.
The Board of Directors, through the activities of its Audit
Committee consisting solely of outside Directors, participates in
the process of reporting financial information. The duties of the
Committee include keeping informed of the financial condition of
the Company and reviewing its financial policies and procedures,
its internal accounting controls and the objectivity of its financial
reporting. Both the Company’s independent auditors and
the internal auditors have free access to the Audit Committee and
meet with the Committee periodically, with and without
management present.
John B. Menzer
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
RESPONSIBILITY FOR FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS
38