Xcel Energy 2004 Annual Report Download - page 42

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Xcel Energy Annual Report 2004
40
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Board of Directors and Stockholders
Xcel Energy Inc.
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management Report On Internal Controls, that Xcel Energy Inc. and
subsidiaries (the “Company”) maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on criteria established
in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. 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. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on management’s assessment and an opinion on the effectiveness of 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, evaluating management’s assessment,
testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the
circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinions.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s principal executive and principal
financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the company’s board of directors, management, and other personnel 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 the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion or improper management override
of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of the
effectiveness of the internal control over financial reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the 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, management’s assessment that the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, is
fairly stated, in all material respects, based on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated financial
statements as of December 31, 2004 of the Company and subsidiaries and our report dated March 3, 2005 expressed an unqualified opinion on
those financial statements.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
March 3, 2005