Freeport-McMoRan 2008 Annual Report Download - page 64

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Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
62 FREEPORT-McMoRan COPPER & GOLD INC. 2008 Annual Report
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s (the Company’s)
management is responsible for establishing and maintaining
adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control
over financial reporting is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f)
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as a process designed
by, or under the supervision of, the Company’s principal executive
and principal financial officers 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 and includes those policies and procedures that:
•฀ Pertain฀to฀the฀maintenance฀of฀records฀that฀in฀reasonable฀detail฀
accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions
of the Company’s assets;
•฀ 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
•฀ 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.
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.
Our management, including our principal executive officer and
principal financial officer, assessed the effectiveness of our
internal control over financial reporting as of the end of the fiscal
year covered by this annual report on Form 10-K. In making
this assessment, our management used the criteria set forth in
Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee
of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission
(COSO). Based on our management’s assessment, management
concluded that, as of December 31, 2008, our Company’s
internal control over financial reporting is effective based on the
COSO criteria.
Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public
accounting firm, who audited the Company’s consolidated financial
statements included in this Form 10-K, has issued an
attestation report on the Company’s internal control over
financial reporting, which is included herein.
Richard C. Adkerson Kathleen L. Quirk
President and Executive Vice President,
Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer and
Treasurer