Aflac 2006 Annual Report Download - page 77

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The shareholders and board of directors of Aflac Incorporated:
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control
over Financial Reporting, that Aflac Incorporated and subsidiaries (the Company) maintained effective internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, 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
maintaining effective internal control over financial 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 effectiveness
of 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, evaluating management’s assessment, testing and evaluating the design and operating
effectiveness 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 financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S.
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 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 U.S. 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, management’s assessment that Aflac Incorporated and subsidiaries maintained effective internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on criteria established in Internal
Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Also,
in our opinion, Aflac Incorporated and subsidiaries maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2006, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued by the
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the
consolidated balance sheets of Aflac Incorporated and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2006 and 2005, and the related
consolidated statements of earnings, shareholders’ equity, cash flows, and comprehensive income for each of the years in the
three-year period ended December 31, 2006, and our report dated February 27, 2007 expressed an unqualified opinion on
those consolidated financial statements, with an explanatory paragraph as the Company adopted the provisions of Staff
Accounting Bulletin No. 108, Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year
Financial Statements, and Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and
Other Postretirement Plans, an amendment of FASB Statements No. 87, 88, 106 and 132(R), in 2006.
Atlanta, Georgia
February 27, 2007
Auditors’ Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting