PNC Bank 2015 Annual Report Download - page 120

ITEM 8 – FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND
SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
R EPORT OF 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, of
comprehensive income, of changes in equity, and of cash
flows present fairly, in all material respects, the financial
position of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and its
subsidiaries at December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014,
and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each
of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015 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,
2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control—
Integrated Framework (2013) 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 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.
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
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
February 26, 2016
102 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. – Form 10-K