Barclays 2011 Annual Report Download - page 198

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm’s report
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Barclays PLC
In our opinion, the accompanying Consolidated income statements and
the related Consolidated balance sheets, Consolidated cash flow
statements and, Consolidated statements of comprehensive income and
Consolidated statements of changes in equity present fairly, in all material
respects, the financial position of Barclays PLC (the ‘Company’) and its
subsidiaries at 31 December 2011 and 31 December 2010 and the results
of their operations and cash flows for each of the three years in the period
ended 31 December 2011, in conformity with International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as issued by the International Accounting
Standards Board. Also, in our opinion the Company maintained, in all
material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as
of 31 December 2011, based on criteria established in Internal Control –
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). The Company’s
management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining
effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of
the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in
Management’s report on internal control over financial reporting as it
pertains to Barclays PLC in the Directors’ report. Our responsibility is to
express opinions on these financial statements and on the Company’s
internal control over financial reporting based on our integrated audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards
require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material
misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial
reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the
financial statements included 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 overall financial statement
presentation.
Our audit of internal control over financial reporting 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 audits also included performing such other procedures as we
considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits
provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
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: (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in
reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and
dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) 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 authorisations of management
and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance
regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorised 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.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
London, United Kingdom
7 March 2012
196 Barclays PLC Annual Report 2011 www.barclays.com/annualreport