Avon 2000 Annual Report Download - page 39

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The accompanying consolidated financial statements
of Avon Products, Inc. have been prepared by manage-
ment in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles and necessarily include amounts that are
based on judgments and estimates. The audit report of
PricewaterhouseCoopers llp, independent accountants,
on these financial statements is the result of their audits
of these consolidated financial statements, which were
performed in accordance with generally accepted audit-
ing standards.
Avon maintains an internal control structure and
related systems, policies and procedures designed to pro-
vide reasonable assurance that assets are safeguarded,
transactions are executed in accordance with appropriate
authorization and accounting records may be relied upon
for the preparation of financial information. Avon also
maintains an internal audit department that evaluates and
formally reports to management on the adequacy and
effectiveness of controls, policies and procedures.
The audit committee of the board of directors,
comprised solely of outside directors, has an oversight role
in the area of financial reporting and internal controls.
This committee meets several times during the year with
management, PricewaterhouseCoopers llp and the inter-
nal auditors to monitor the proper discharge of each of
their respective responsibilities. PricewaterhouseCoopers
llp and the internal auditors have free access to manage-
ment and to the audit committee to discuss the results of
their activities and the adequacy of controls.
It is management’s opinion that Avon’s policies and
procedures, reinforced by the internal control structure,
provide reasonable assurance that operations are managed
in a responsible and professional manner with a commit-
ment to the highest standard of business conduct.
Andrea Jung
Chief Executive Officer
Robert J. Corti
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Avon
Products, Inc.
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance
sheets and the related consolidated statements of income,
cash flows and changes in shareholders’ equity present
fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of
Avon Products, Inc. at December 31 , 2000 and 1999, and
the results of their operations and their cash flows for each
of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2000,
in conformity with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States of America. These financial
statements are the responsibility of Avon’s management;
our responsibility is to express an opinion on these finan-
cial statements based on our audits. We conducted our
audits of these statements in accordance with auditing
standards generally accepted in the United States, which
require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain rea-
sonable assurance about whether the financial statements
are free of material misstatement. An audit includes
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 over-
all financial statement presentation. We believe that
our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
As discussed in Note 2of the Notes to the
Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company
changed its method of accounting for revenue recognition
as a result of the adoption of Staff Accounting Bulletin
No. 101, “Revenue Recognition.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers llp
New York, New York
January 25, 2001
Report of Management Report of Independent
Auditors