Home Depot 2009 Annual Report Download - page 36

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 January 31, 2010,
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 January 31, 2010, 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
January 31, 2010 and February 1, 2009, 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 31, 2010, and our report dated March 25, 2010 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated
financial statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
Atlanta, Georgia
March 25, 2010
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