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32 Darden Restaurants, Inc. Annual Report 2007
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
Darden Restaurants, Inc.
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets
of Darden Restaurants, Inc. and subsidiaries as of May 27, 2007 and
May 28, 2006, and the related consolidated statements of earnings,
changes in stockholders’ equity and accumulated other compre-
hensive income (loss), and cash flows for each of the years in the
three-year period ended May 27, 2007. These consolidated financial
statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated
financial statements based on our 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 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. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles
used and significant 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, the consolidated financial statements referred
to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position
of Darden Restaurants, Inc. and subsidiaries as of May 27, 2007 and
May 28, 2006, and the results of their operations and their cash flows
for each of the years in the three-year period ended May 27, 2007, in
conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements,
during the year ended May 27, 2007, the Company changed its
method of accounting for share-based compensation by adopting
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123(R), Share-Based
Payment, and accounting for defined benefit pension and other
postretirement plans by adopting Statement of Financial Accounting
Standards No. 158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension
and Other Postretirement Plans.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the
effectiveness of Darden Restaurants, Inc. and subsidiaries’ internal
control over financial reporting as of May 27, 2007, based on criteria
established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission
(COSO), and our report dated July 18, 2007 expressed an unqualified
opinion on management’s assessment of, and the effective operation
of, internal control over financial reporting.
Orlando, Florida
July 18, 2007
Certified Public Accountants
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm C