Aarons 2011 Annual Report Download - page 46

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 its inherent limitations, internal control over
financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also,
projections of any evaluation 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, Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries maintained, in all
material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting
as of December 31, 2011, 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 Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries as of
December 31, 2011 and 2010 and the related consolidated state-
ments of earnings, shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of
the three years in the period ended December 31, 2011 of Aaron’s,
Inc. and subsidiaries and our report dated February 29, 2012
expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Atlanta, Georgia
February 29, 2012
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
ON INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING
The Board of Directors of
Aaron’s, Inc. and Subsidiaries
We have audited Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries’ internal control
over financial reporting as of December 31, 2011, based on criteria
established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued
by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (the COSO criteria). Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries’
management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control
over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of
internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying
Management Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on 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, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists,
testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of inter-
nal control based on the assessed risk, 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 reli-
ability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial state-
ments 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
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