IBM 2012 Annual Report Download - page 70

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69
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
International Business Machines Corporation and Subsidiary Companies
To the Stockholders and Board of
Directors of International Business
Machines Corporation:
In our opinion, the accompanying Consolidated Financial State-
ments appearing on pages 70 through 138 present fairly, in all
material respects, the financial position of International Business
Machines Corporation and its subsidiaries at December 31, 2012
and 2011 and the results of their operations and their cash flows for
each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2012 in
conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company main-
tained, in all material respects, effective internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2012, based on criteria
established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by
the Committee of Sponsoring Organ izations of the Treadway Com-
mission (COSO). The Company’s management is responsible for
these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control
over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness
of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accom-
panying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial
Reporting appearing on page 68. Our responsibility is to express
opinions on these financial statements and on the Company’s inter-
nal control over financial reporting based on our integrated audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States).
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements
are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal con-
trol over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the financial statements included examining, on a test
basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the
overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control
over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of inter-
nal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material
weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operat-
ing effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk.
Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we
considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our
audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
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 (i) pertain to
the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately
and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of
the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions
are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial state-
ments 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 direc-
tors of the company; and (iii) 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.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
New York, New York
February 26, 2013