Office Depot 2003 Annual Report Download - page 38

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To the Board of Directors of Office Depot, Inc.:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance
sheets of Office Depot, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “ Company”)
as of December 27, 2003 and December 28, 2002 and the
related consolidated statements of earnings, stockholders’
equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period
ended December 27, 2003. These financial statements are the
responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsi-
bility is to express an opinion on these financial statements
based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing stan-
dards generally accepted in the United States of America.
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial state-
ments are free of material misstatement. An audit includes
examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts
and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also
includes assessing the accounting principles used and signifi-
cant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the
overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our
audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, such consolidated financial statements referred
to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial
position of the Company as of December 27, 2003 and
December 28, 2002 and the results of its operations and its
cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended
December 27, 2003 in conformity with accounting principles
generally accepted in the United States of America.
As discussed in Note C to the consolidated financial state-
ments, in 2003 the Company changed its method of account-
ing for cooperative advertising arrangements to conform to
the requirements of Emerging Issues Task Force Issue No. 02-
16 upon adoption of such principle.
Certified Public Accountants
Miami, Florida
February 23, 2004
Office Depot 2003 / Form 10-K 36
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT