DIRECTV 2004 Annual Report Download - page 114

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THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm on Internal Control Over
Financial Reporting
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of The DIRECTV Group, Inc.
El Segundo, California
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over
Financial Reporting, that The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (“the Company”) maintained effective internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. 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 a reasonable basis for our opinions.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s
principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, 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. 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 accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, 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 the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper
management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely
basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods
are subject to the risk that the 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, management’s assessment that the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of
December 31, 2004, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated
Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Also in our opinion, the
Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based
on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of
the Treadway Commission.
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