Home Depot 2005 Annual Report Download - page 46

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
The Home Depot, Inc.:
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on
Internal Control Over Financial Reporting, that The Home Depot, Inc. and subsidiaries maintained
effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 29, 2006, based on criteria established in
Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission (COSO). 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. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on management’s assessment and
an opinion on the effectiveness of 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, evaluating management’s assessment, testing and evaluating the design and
operating effectiveness of internal control, 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 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.
In our opinion, management’s assessment that The Home Depot, Inc. and subsidiaries maintained
effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 29, 2006, is fairly stated, in all material
respects, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Also, in our opinion,
The Home Depot, Inc. and subsidiaries maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control
over financial reporting as of January 29, 2006, based on criteria established in Internal Control –
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO).
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board (United States), the Consolidated Balance Sheets of The Home Depot, Inc. and subsidiaries as
of January 29, 2006 and January 30, 2005, and the related Consolidated Statements of Earnings,
Stockholders’ Equity and Comprehensive Income, and Cash Flows for each of the fiscal years in the
three-year period ended January 29, 2006, and our report dated March 22, 2006, except as to note 12
which is as of March 24, 2006, expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial
statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
Atlanta, Georgia
March 22, 2006
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