Capital One 2010 Annual Report Download - page 203

183
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors and Shareholders of Capital One Financial Corporation:
We have audited Capital One Financial Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010, based on
criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (the COSO criteria). Capital One Financial Corporation’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 Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on 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, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of
internal control based on the assessed risk, and 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, Capital One Financial Corporation maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2010, based on the COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the
consolidated balance sheets of Capital One Financial Corporation as of December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the related consolidated
statements of income, shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2010 of
Capital One Financial Corporation and our report dated March 1, 2011 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
McLean, Virginia
March 1, 2011