Travelers 2011 Annual Report Download - page 264

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
The Travelers Companies, Inc.:
We have audited The Travelers Companies, Inc. and subsidiaries’ (the Company) internal control
over financial reporting as of December 31, 2011, based on criteria established in Internal Control—
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (COSO). The Company’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’s 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, and testing and evaluating the
design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also
included 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, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2011, based on criteria established in Internal Control—
Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated balance sheet of The Travelers Companies, Inc. and
subsidiaries as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, and the related consolidated statements of income,
changes in shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended
December 31, 2011, and our report dated February 16, 2012 expressed an unqualified opinion on those
consolidated financial statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
KPMG LLP
New York, New York
February 16, 2012
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