SkyWest Airlines 2004 Annual Report Download - page 54

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
SkyWest, Inc.
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Report of Management on Internal Control Over
Financial Reporting, that SkyWest, Inc. maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004,
based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of
the Treadway Commission (the COSO criteria). SkyWest, 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. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on management’s assessment and an opinion on the effectiveness of 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, evaluating management’s assessment, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of
internal control, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that 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 generally
accepted accounting principles. 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 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 (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.
In our opinion, management’s assessment that SkyWest, Inc. maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of
December 31, 2004 is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on the COSO criteria. Also, in our opinion, SkyWest, Inc.
maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on the
COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the
consolidated balance sheets of SkyWest, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2004 and 2003, and the related consolidated
statements of income, stockholders' equity and comprehensive income, and cash flows for the years then ended of SkyWest, Inc.
and subsidiaries and our report dated March 9, 2005 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Salt Lake City, Utah
March 9, 2005