Travelers 2004 Annual Report Download - page 125

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc.:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc.
and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2004 and 2003, and the related consolidated statements of income (loss),
changes in shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended
December 31, 2004. 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 The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc., and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2004 and
2003, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended
December 31, 2004, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed its method of
accounting for goodwill and other intangible assets in 2002.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(United States), the effectiveness of The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc., and subsidiaries 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 (COSO), and
our report dated March 16, 2005 expressed an unqualified opinion on management’s assessment of, and the
effective operation of, internal control over financial reporting.
/s/ KPMG LLP
KPMG LLP
Minneapolis, Minnesota
March 16, 2005
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