Travelers 2013 Annual Report Download - page 272

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, 2013, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework
(1992) 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, 2013, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (1992)
issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
The Company acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of The Dominion of Canada General
Insurance Company (Dominion) on November 1, 2013. Management excluded Dominion from its assessment of
the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2013. Dominion
represented less than 4% of the Company’s consolidated total assets and less than 1% of each of the Company’s
consolidated total revenues and net income as of and for the year ended December 31, 2013. Our audit of internal
control over financial reporting of the Company also excluded an evaluation of the internal control over financial
reporting of Dominion.
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, 2013 and 2012, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes
in shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2013,
and our report dated February 13, 2014 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial
statements.
/s/ KPMG LLP
KPMG LLP
New York, New York
February 13, 2014
262