Home Depot 2007 Annual Report Download - page 47

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
The Home Depot, Inc.:
We have audited The Home Depot Inc.'s internal control over financial reporting as of February 3, 2008, based on criteria established in Internal
Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). The Home
Depot Inc.'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, included in the accompanying Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial
Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on 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, 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 audit also included 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, The Home Depot, Inc. maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of February 3,
2008, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission.
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 February 3, 2008 and January 28, 2007, 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
February 3, 2008, and our report dated March 28, 2008 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
Atlanta, Georgia
March 28, 2008
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