Bank of Montreal 2012 Annual Report Download - page 121

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors
of Bank of Montreal
We have audited Bank of Montreal’s (the “bank”) internal control over
financial reporting as of October 31, 2012, based on criteria established
in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). The
bank’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 Discussion and Analysis”. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on the bank’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, the bank maintained, in all material respects,
effective internal control over financial reporting as of October 31, 2012,
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 Canadian generally
accepted auditing standards and the standards of the Public Company
Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated balance
sheets of the bank as of October 31, 2012, October 31, 2011 and
November 1, 2010, the consolidated statements of income,
comprehensive income, changes in equity and cash flows for the years
ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, and notes, comprising a summary of
significant accounting policies and other explanatory information, and
our report dated December 4, 2012 expressed an unmodified
(unqualified) opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
Chartered Accountants, Licensed Public Accountants
December 4, 2012
Toronto, Canada
118 BMO Financial Group 195th Annual Report 2012