Aarons 2010 Annual Report Download - page 47

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, Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries maintained, in all
material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting
as of December 31, 2010, based on the COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States),
the consolidated balance sheets of Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries
as of December 31, 2010 and 2009 and the related consolidated
statements of earnings, shareholders’ equity and cash flows for
each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2010 of
Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries and our report dated February 25,
2011 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Atlanta, Georgia
February 25, 2011
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The Board of Directors of Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries
We have audited Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries’ internal control
over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010, based on criteria
established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued
by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission (the COSO criteria). Aaron’s, Inc. and subsidiaries’
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 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, testing and evaluating the design and
operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed
risk, and 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
43