Costco 2007 Annual Report Download - page 46

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors and Shareholders
Costco Wholesale Corporation:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Costco Wholesale Corporation
and subsidiaries as of September 2, 2007 and September 3, 2006 and the related consolidated
statements of income, stockholders’ equity and comprehensive income and cash flows for the 52-week
period ended September 2, 2007, the 53-week period ended September 3, 2006, and the 52-week
period ended August 28, 2005. These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the
Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial
statements based on our 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 audit to obtain
reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material
misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and
disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting
principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall
consolidated financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis
for our opinion.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material
respects, the consolidated financial position of Costco Wholesale Corporation and subsidiaries as of
September 2, 2007 and September 3, 2006, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for
the 52-week period ended September 2, 2007, the 53-week period ended September 3, 2006, and the
52-week period ended August 28, 2005, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting
principles.
Effective August 29, 2005, the beginning of the Company’s fiscal year ended September 3, 2006, the
Company adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123(R), “Share-Based Payment”
and Securities and Exchange Commission Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, “Considering the Effects
of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in the Current Year Financial
Statements.”
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board (United States), the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of
September 2, 2007, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by
the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), and our report
dated October 24, 2007 expressed an unqualified opinion on internal control over financial reporting.
Seattle, Washington
October 24, 2007
44