Staples 2015 Annual Report Download - page 119

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APPENDIX C
STAPLES C-2
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC
ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors and Shareholders of
Staples, Inc.
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance
sheets of Staples, Inc. and subsidiaries as of January 30,
2016 and January 31, 2015, and the related consolidated
statements of income, comprehensive income, shareholders'
equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period
ended January 30, 2016. Our audits also included the financial
statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(a)2. These
financial statements and schedule are the responsibility of the
Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an
opinion on these financial statements and schedule 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 financial statements referred to above
present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial
position of Staples, Inc. and subsidiaries at January 30, 2016
and January 31, 2015, and the consolidated results of their
operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in
the period ended January 30, 2016, in conformity with U.S.
generally accepted accounting principles. Also, in our opinion,
the related financial statement schedule, when considered in
relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole,
present fairly in all material respects the information set
forth therein.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States),
Staples, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of
January 30, 2016, based on criteria established in Internal
Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013
framework), and our report dated March 4, 2016 expressed an
unqualified opinion thereon.
As discussed in Note A to the consolidated financial
statements, in 2015 the Company changed the manner in
which it accounts for the classification of deferred taxes in
the consolidated balance sheets due to the adoption of ASU
2015-17, Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Boston, Massachusetts
March 4, 2016