Walmart 2007 Annual Report Download - page 63

Wal-Mart 2007 Annual Report 61
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm on
Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The Board of Directors and Shareholders,
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the
accompanying “Management’s Report to our Shareholders” under
the caption “Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting,”
that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. maintained e ective internal control over
 nancial reporting as of January 31, 2007, based on criteria established
in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (the COSO
criteria). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s management is responsible for main-
taining e ective internal control over  nancial 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 e ectiveness of the Company’s
internal control over  nancial 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 rea-
sonable assurance about whether e ective internal control over
 nancial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit
included obtaining an understanding of internal control over  nancial
reporting, evaluating management’s assessment, testing and evalu-
ating the design and operating e ectiveness 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  nancial reporting and the preparation of  nancial statements for
external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles. A company’s internal control over  nancial reporting includes
those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of
records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly re ect the trans-
actions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide
reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to
permit preparation of  nancial statements in accordance with gener-
ally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures
of the company are being made only in accordance with authoriza-
tions 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 e ect on the  nancial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial
reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections
of any evaluation of e ectiveness 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.
As indicated in the accompanying “Management’s Report to Our
Shareholders,” management’s assessment of and conclusion on the
e ectiveness of internal control over  nancial reporting did not include
the internal controls of Central American Retail Holding Company, of
which the Company acquired majority ownership in  scal 2007 and
is included in the  scal 2007 Consolidated Financial Statements of
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. This entity, now known as Wal-Mart Central
America, represented, in the aggregate, 0.9% and 0.6% of consolidated
total assets and consolidated net sales, respectively, of the Company
as of, and for the year ended, January 31, 2007. This acquisition is more
fully discussed in Note 6 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for
 scal 2007. Our audit of internal control over  nancial reporting of
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. also did not include an evaluation of the internal
control over  nancial reporting for this  scal 2007 acquisition.
In our opinion, management’s assessment that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
maintained e ective internal control over  nancial reporting as of
January 31, 2007, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on the
COSO criteria. Also, in our opinion, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. maintained,
in all material respects, e ective internal control over  nancial report-
ing as of January 31, 2007, 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 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. as of January 31, 2007 and 2006,
and the related consolidated statements of income, shareholders’
equity, and cash  ows for each of the three years in the period ended
January 31, 2007 and our report dated March 26, 2007 expressed an
unquali ed opinion thereon.
Rogers, Arkansas
March 26, 2007