Dish Network 2008 Annual Report Download - page 84

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
F-2
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
DISH Network Corporation:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of DISH Network Corporation and
subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2008 and 2007, and the related consolidated statements of
operations and comprehensive income (loss), changes in stockholders’ equity (deficit), and cash flows for
each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2008. We also have audited DISH Network
Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting 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 (COSO). DISH Network Corporation’s management is
responsible for these consolidated financial statements, 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 Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements and an opinion on the
Company’s internal control over financial reporting 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 audits to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective
internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the
consolidated financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and
disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates
made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal
control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial
reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and
operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing
such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide
a reasonable basis for our opinions.
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.