Wells Fargo 2007 Annual Report Download - page 76

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73
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
Wells Fargo & Company:
We have audited Wells Fargo & Company and Subsidiaries’ (“the Company”) internal control over financial reporting
as of December 31, 2007, 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, 2007, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by COSO.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(United States), the consolidated balance sheet of the Company as of December 31, 2007 and 2006, and the related
consolidated statements of income, changes in stockholders’ equity and comprehensive income, and cash flows for
each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2007, and our report dated February 25, 2008,
expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
San Francisco, California
February 25, 2008