CenterPoint Energy 2009 Annual Report Download - page 88

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66
MANAGEMENT’S ANNUAL REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL
OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial
reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) promulgated under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s principal
executive and principal financial officers and effected by the company’s board of directors, management and other
personnel, 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 and includes
those policies and procedures that:
• Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions
and dispositions of the assets of the company;
• 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
• 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.
Management has designed its internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding
the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Management’s assessment included review and
testing of both the design effectiveness and operating effectiveness of controls over all relevant assertions related to
all significant accounts and disclosures in the financial statements.
All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those
systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement
preparation and presentation. 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.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and
principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial
reporting based on the framework in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on our evaluation under the framework in Internal
Control — Integrated Framework, our management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting
was effective as of December 31, 2009.
Deloitte & Touche LLP, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, has issued an attestation
report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009 which is
included herein on page 65.
/s/ DAVID M. MCCLANAHAN
President and Chief Executive Officer
/s/ GARY L. WHITLOCK
Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer
February 26, 2010