Home Depot 2010 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 30, 2011, 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 30, 2011, 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 30,
2011 and January 31, 2010, 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 30,
2011, and our report dated March 24, 2011 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial
statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
Atlanta, Georgia
March 24, 2011
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