American Eagle Outfitters 2009 Annual Report Download - page 71

ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE.
None.
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that
information required to be disclosed in our reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(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 the management of
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (the “Management”), including our Principal Executive Officer and our Principal
Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and
evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, Management recognized that any controls and procedures,
no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control
objectives.
In connection with the preparation of this Annual Report on Form 10-K as of January 30, 2010, an evaluation
was performed under the supervision and with the participation of our Management, including the Principal
Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act). Based upon that
evaluation, our Principal Executive Officer and our Principal Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure
controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level as of the end of the period covered by this
Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Our internal control over financial reporting is
designed to provide a reasonable assurance to our Management and our Board regarding the preparation and fair
presentation of published financial statements.
All internal control systems, no matter how well designed have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those
systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement
preparation and presentation.
Our Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of January 30,
2010. In making this assessment, our Management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control — Integrated Framework. Based on this
assessment, our Management concluded that we maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of
January 30, 2010.
The Company’s independent registered public accounting firm that audited the financial statements included
in this Annual Report issued an attestation report on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the three months ended
January 30, 2010 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over
financial reporting.
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