Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air 2007 Annual Report Download - page 199

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors and Shareholders
Alaska Air Group, Inc.:
We have audited Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s internal
control over financial reporting as of
December 31, 2007, based on criteria
established in Internal Control – Integrated
Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO). Alaska Air Group, Inc.’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, included
in the accompanying Management’s Report on
Internal Control Over Financial Reporting (Item
9A). 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, and testing and evaluating the
design and operating effectiveness of internal
control based on the assessed risk. Our audit
also included 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 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 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, Alaska Air Group, Inc. maintained,
in all material respects, effective internal control
over financial reporting as of December 31,
2007, based on criteria established in Internal
Control—Integrated Framework issued by the
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission.
We also have audited, in accordance with the
standards of the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board (United States), the
consolidated balance sheets of Alaska Air Group,
Inc. as of December 31, 2007 and 2006, and
the related consolidated statements of
operations, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows
for each of the years in the three-year period
ended December 31, 2007, and our report dated
February 19, 2008, expressed an unqualified
opinion on those consolidated financial
statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
Seattle, Washington
February 19, 2008
99
ŠForm 10-K