Abercrombie & Fitch 2009 Annual Report Download - page 90

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING
AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE.
None.
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
A&F maintains disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) that are designed to provide
reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the reports that A&F files or submits under
the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the
SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to A&F’s management,
including the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A&F and the Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer of A&F, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. Because of
inherent limitations, disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can
provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assurance that the objectives of disclosure controls and procedures
are met.
A&F’s management, including the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A&F and the Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of A&F, evaluated the effectiveness of A&F’s design and
operation of its disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the fiscal year ended January 30, 2010. The
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A&F and the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
of A&F concluded that the A&F’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable level of
assurance as of January 30, 2010, the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The management of A&F is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over
financial reporting. A&F’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and
15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect
misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluations 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. Accordingly, even an effective system of internal control over
financial reporting will provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation.
With the participation of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A&F and the Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of A&F, management evaluated the effectiveness of A&F’s internal
control over financial reporting as of January 30, 2010 using criteria established in the Internal Control-
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission
(“COSO”). Based on the assessment of A&F’s internal control over financial reporting, under the criteria
described in the preceding sentence, management has concluded that, as of January 30, 2010, A&F’s internal
control over financial reporting was effective.
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