DIRECTV 2008 Annual Report Download - page 122

THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on their assessment and those criteria, management believes
that, as of December 31, 2008, our internal control over financial reporting is effective.
Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued an audit report on internal control
over financial reporting, which appears below.
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of The DIRECTV Group, Inc.
El Segundo, California
We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (the
‘‘Company’’) as of December 31, 2008, 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, 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 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
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 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, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2008, based on the criteria established in Internal Control—
109