Nordstrom 2005 Annual Report Download - page 34

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM ON INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Nordstrom, Inc.
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial
Reporting, that Nordstrom, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of
January 28, 2006, based on criteria established in
Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The Company’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. Our responsibility
is to express an opinion on management’s assessment and an opinion on the effectiveness of 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, evaluating management’s assessment, testing and evaluating the design and operating
effectiveness of internal control, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.
We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinions.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s
principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the company’s board
of directors, management, and other personnel 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 the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper
management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely
basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods are
subject to the risk that the 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, management’s assessment that the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as
of January 28, 2006, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on the criteria established in
Internal Control-Integrated
Framework
issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Also in our opinion, the Company
maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 28, 2006, based on the
criteria established in
Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States),
the consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended January 28, 2006 of the Company and our report dated
March 21, 2006, expresses an unqualified opinion on those financial statements.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP
Seattle, Washington
March 21, 2006