Wells Fargo 2015 Annual Report Download - page 134

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,
2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) 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,
2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) 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, 2015 and 2014, and the related consolidated statements of income,
comprehensive income, changes in equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2015, and
our report dated February 24, 2016, expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
San Francisco, California
February 24, 2016
Wells Fargo & Company
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