Walmart 2009 Annual Report Download - page 55

53Wal-Mart 2009 Annual Report
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The Board of Directors and Shareholders of
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
We have audited Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s internal control over  nancial
reporting as of January 31, 2009, 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 e ectiveness of internal control over  nancial
reporting included in the accompanying “Management’s Report to
Our Shareholders.” Our responsibility is to express an opinion on 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, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing
and evaluating the design and operating e ectiveness of internal
control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other proce-
dures 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  nancial 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
transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) pro-
vide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as neces-
sary 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 detec-
tion 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  nancial
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 e ec-
tiveness of internal control over  nancial reporting did not include the
internal controls of Distribución y Servicio D&S S.A., which is included
in the  scal 2009 consolidated  nancial statements of Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc. and constituted 2.2% and 0.0% of consolidated total assets and
consolidated net sales, respectively, of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. as of, and
for the year ended January 31, 2009. Our audit of internal control over
 nancial reporting of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. also did not include an
evaluation of the internal control over financial reporting of
Distribución y Servicio D&S S.A.
In our opinion, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. maintained, in all material respects,
e ective internal control over  nancial reporting as of January 31,
2009, 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, 2009 and 2008,
and the related consolidated statements of income, shareholders’
equity, and cash  ows for each of the three years in the period ended
January 31, 2009 and our report dated March 27, 2009 expressed an
unquali ed opinion thereon.
Rogers, Arkansas
March 27, 2009