Home Depot 2008 Annual Report Download - page 31

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 1, 2009, 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 1, 2009, 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 1, 2009 and
February 3, 2008, 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 1, 2009, and our report dated
March 26, 2009 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
Atlanta, Georgia
March 26, 2009
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