Amtrak 2015 Annual Report Download - page 55

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Our consideration of internal control was for the limited purpose described in the preceding
paragraph and was not designed to identify all deficiencies in internal control that might be
material weaknesses or significant deficiencies and therefore, material weaknesses or significant
deficiencies may exist that were not identified. However, as described in Appendix A, we
identified certain deficiencies in internal control that we consider to be material weaknesses.
A deficiency in internal control exists when the design or operation of a control does not allow
management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent,
or detect and correct misstatements on a timely basis. A material weakness is a deficiency, or
combination of deficiencies, in internal control such that there is a reasonable possibility that a
material misstatement of the entity’ s financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and
corrected on a timely basis. We consider the aggregation of the two Information Systems
significant deficiencies described in greater detail in Appendix A to be a material weakness.
A significant deficiency is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control that is
less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit attention by those charged
with governance. We considered the two components of the Information Systems material
weakness to individually be significant deficiencies.
Compliance and Other Matters
As part of obtaining reasonable assurance about whether Amtrak’ s financial statements are free of
material misstatement, we performed tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws,
regulations, contracts and grant agreements, noncompliance with which could have a direct and
material effect on the determination of financial statement amounts. However, providing an
opinion on compliance with those provisions was not an objective of our audit and, accordingly,
we do not express such an opinion. The results of our tests disclosed no instances of noncompliance
or other matters that are required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards.
Amtrak’s Response to Findings
Amtrak’ s response to the findings identified in our audit are described in Appendix A. Amtrak’ s
response was not subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of the financial
statements and, accordingly, we express no opinion on it. The status of prior year instances of
deficiencies is presented in Appendix B.
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