Duke Energy 2011 Annual Report Download - page 96

PART II
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of
Duke Energy Corporation
Charlotte, North Carolina
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Duke Energy Corporation and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of
December 31, 2011 and 2010, and the related consolidated statements of operations, equity and comprehensive income, and cash flows for
each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2011. Our audits also included the financial statement schedules listed in the Index
at Item 15. We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2011, based on the 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 these financial statements and financial statement schedules, 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 financial
statements and financial statement schedules 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 audit 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 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 therisk
that a material weakness exists, 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 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 consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Duke
Energy Corporation and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of
the three years in the period ended December 31, 2011, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of
America. Also, in our opinion, such financial statement schedules, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated financial statements
taken as a whole, present fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein. Also, in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all
material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2011, based on the criteria established in Internal
Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP
Charlotte, North Carolina
February 28, 2012
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