Washington Post 2002 Annual Report Download - page 40

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 40 of the 2002 Washington Post annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 64

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS
To The Board of Directors and Shareholders of
The Washington Post Company
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to under Item 15(a)(i) on page 23 and listed in the index on page 27
present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of The Washington Post Company and its subsidiaries at December 29,
2002 and December 30, 2001, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three fiscal years in the period
ended December 29, 2002, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. In addition,
in our opinion, the financial statement schedule referred to under Item 15(a)(i) on page 23 presents fairly, in all material respects, the
information set forth therein when read in conjunction with the related consolidated financial statements. These financial statements and
financial statement schedule are the responsibility of the Company’s management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these
financial statements and financial statement schedule based on our audits. We conducted our audits of these statements in accordance
with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America which 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, assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits
provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
As discussed in Note A to the financial statements, the Company ceased amortizing certain goodwill and intangibles as a result of the
adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142, ‘‘Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets,’’ effective on the first day
of its 2002 fiscal year. Also as discussed in Note A, the Company adopted the fair-value-based method of accounting for stock options
as outlined in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123, ‘‘Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation,’’ beginning with
stock options granted in fiscal 2002 and thereafter.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Washington, D.C.
January 24, 2003
38 THE WASHINGTON POST COMPANY