Shaw 2015 Annual Report Download - page 56

Shaw Communications Inc.
Independent Auditors’ Report on Internal Controls under Standards of the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board (United States)
To the Shareholders of Shaw Communications Inc.
We have audited Shaw Communications Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as at August 31, 2015, based on the
criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission 2013 framework (the COSO criteria). Shaw Communications Inc.’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 included in the accompanying Management Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on 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, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design
and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we
considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
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
International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. 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 IFRS, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorization 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 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.
As indicated in the accompanying Shaw Communications Inc.’s Management Report on Internal Control Over Financial
Reporting, management’s assessment of and conclusion on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting did not
include the internal controls of ViaWest, Inc., which is included in the August 31, 2015 consolidated financial statements of
Shaw Communications Inc. and constituted $1,733 million of total assets as of August 31, 2015 and $246 million of revenues
for the year then ended. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting of Shaw Communications Inc. also did not include
an evaluation of the internal control over financial reporting of ViaWest, Inc..
In our opinion, Shaw Communications Inc. maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting as at August 31, 2015, based on the COSO criteria.
We have also audited, in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards and the standards of the Public
Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated statements of financial position of Shaw Communications Inc. as
at August 31, 2015 and 2014, and the consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in shareholders’
equity and cash flows for the years ended August 31, 2015 and 2014, and our report dated November 23, 2015 expressed an
unqualified opinion thereon.
Calgary, Canada
November 23, 2015
Chartered Accountants
54 Shaw Communications Inc. 2015 Annual Report