Goldman Sachs 2015 Annual Report Download - page 127

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and the Shareholders of
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.:
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements listed
in the accompanying index present fairly, in all material
respects, the financial position of The Goldman Sachs
Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the Company) at
December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the results of its
operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in
the period ended December 31, 2015, in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United
States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company
maintained, in all material respects, effective internal
control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015,
based on criteria established in Internal Control —
Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission
(COSO). The Company’s management is responsible for
these 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 Management’s Report on Internal Control over
Financial Reporting appearing on page 114. Our
responsibility is to express opinions on these financial
statements and on the Company’s internal control over
financial reporting based on our integrated 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 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 (i) pertain to the maintenance
of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly
reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the
company; (ii) 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 (iii) 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.
/s/ PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP
New York, New York
February 19, 2016
Goldman Sachs 2015 Form 10-K 115