CVS 2004 Annual Report Download - page 29
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Please find page 29 of the 2004 CVS annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS
CVS CORPORATION
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial
Reporting, that CVS Corporation and subsidiaries maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 1, 2005,
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 maintaining effective internal control over financial
reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. Our responsibility is to express an
opinion on management’s assessment and an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’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, evaluating management’s assessment, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal
control, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides
areasonable basis for our opinion.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability
offinancial 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
ofany evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes
inconditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
In our opinion, management’s assessment that CVS Corporation and subsidiaries maintained effective internal control over financial
reporting as of January 1, 2005, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on criteria established in Internal Control–Integrated
Framework issued by COSO. Also, in our opinion, CVS Corporation and subsidiaries maintained, in all material respects, effective
internal control over financial reporting as of January 1, 2005, based on criteria established in Internal Control–Integrated Framework
issued by COSO.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States),
the consolidated balance sheets of CVS Corporation and subsidiaries as of January 1, 2005 and January 3, 2004, and the related
consolidated statements of operations, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for the fifty-two week period ended January 1, 2005,
the fifty-three week period ended January 3, 2004 and the fifty-two week period ended December 28, 2002, and our report,
dated March 8, 2005, expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
KPMG LLP
Providence, Rhode Island
March 8, 2005
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
CVS Corporation 2004 Annual Report |27