Abercrombie & Fitch 2011 Annual Report Download - page 103

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of
Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements listed in the accompanying index appearing
under Item 15(a)(1) present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and its subsidiaries (the Company) at January 28, 2012 and January 29, 2011,
and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended
January 28, 2012 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of
America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control
over financial reporting as of January 28, 2012, based on criteria established in Internal Control -
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission
(COSO). The Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements, 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’s Annual Report on Internal
Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express opinions on these financial statements
and on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our integrated audit. We
conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance
about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal
control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the financial
statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by
management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over
financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting,
assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating
effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other
procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a
reasonable basis for our opinions.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting 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 generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal
control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of
records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets
of the company; (ii) 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 (iii) 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.
100