PNC Bank 2009 Annual Report Download - page 91

ITEM 8– FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND
SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
R EPORT O F I NDEPENDENT R EGISTERED P UBLIC
A CCOUNTING F IRM
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of The PNC
Financial Services Group, Inc.
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance sheets
and the related consolidated statements of income, changes in
equity, and cash flows present fairly, in all material respects,
the financial position of The PNC Financial Services Group,
Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) at December 31,
2009 and December 31, 2008, and the results of their
operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in
the period ended December 31, 2009 in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States
of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in
all material respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2009, based on criteria
established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued
by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission (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 Management’s Report on
Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under
Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on these
financial statements and on the Company’s internal 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 control 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 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 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.
As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial
statements, the Company changed the manner in which it
accounts for other-than-temporary impairments on debt
securities classified as either available for sale or held to
maturity in 2009.
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
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 (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.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
March 10, 2010
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