Kraft 2002 Annual Report Download - page 67

company report on financial statements
The consolidated financial statements and all related financial
information herein are the responsibility of the Company.
The financial statements, which include amounts based on
judgments, have been prepared in accordance with generally
accepted accounting principles. Other financial information in the
annual report is consistent with that in the financial statements.
The Company maintains a system of internal controls that
it believes provides reasonable assurance that transactions are
executed in accordance with management’s authorization and
properly recorded, that assets are safeguarded, and that
accountability for assets is maintained. The system of internal
controls is characterized by a control-oriented environment within
the Company, which includes written policies and procedures,
careful selection and training of personnel, and audits by a
professional staff of internal auditors.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, independent accountants, have
audited and reported on the Company’s consolidated financial
statements. Their audits were performed in accordance with
generally accepted auditing standards.
The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, composed
of four non-employee directors, meets periodically with
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the Company’s internal auditors
and management representatives to review internal accounting
control, auditing and financial reporting matters. Both
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the internal auditors have
unrestricted access to the Audit Committee and may meet
with it without management representatives being present.
kraft foods inc. report of independent accountants
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Kraft Foods Inc.:
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance
sheets and the related consolidated statements of earnings,
shareholders’ equity and cash flows present fairly, in all material
respects, the consolidated financial position of Kraft Foods Inc.
and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) at December 31, 2002 and
2001, and the consolidated results of their operations and their
cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended
December 31, 2002, in conformity with accounting principles
generally accepted in the United States of America. These
financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s
management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these
financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our
audits of these statements in accordance with auditing standards
generally accepted in the United States of America, which
require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are free of
material misstatement. An audit includes 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. We believe that our
audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements,
on January 1, 2002, the Company adopted Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards No. 142, “Goodwill and Other
Intangible Assets.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Chicago, Illinois
January 27, 2003
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