Xcel Energy 2005 Annual Report Download - page 41

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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 Over Financial Reporting,
that Xcel Energy Inc. and subsidiaries (the “ Company” ) maintained effective internal control
over financial reporting
as of December 31,
2005, 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,
2005, 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, 2005, 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 and for the year ended December 31, 2005, of the Company and our report dated February 24, 2006, expressed an
unqualified opinion on those financial statements.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
February 24, 2006
XCEL ENERGY 2005 ANNUAL REPORT 39