AutoZone 2004 Annual Report Download - page 44

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45’04฀Annual฀Report
Management฀is฀responsible฀for฀the฀preparation,฀integrity,฀and฀fair฀presentation฀of฀the฀accompanying฀consolidated฀financial฀statements฀of฀
the฀Company฀and฀its฀subsidiaries.฀The฀financial฀statements฀have฀been฀prepared฀in฀conformity฀with฀accounting฀principles฀generally฀accepted฀in฀
the฀United฀States฀and฀include฀the฀best฀estimates฀and฀judgments฀of฀management.฀Management฀also฀prepared฀the฀other฀information฀included฀
in฀the฀ annual฀report฀and฀is฀responsible฀for฀its฀accuracy฀and฀consistency฀with฀the฀financial฀statements.฀The฀report฀of฀the฀ independent฀฀
registered฀public฀accounting฀firm,฀Ernst฀&฀Young฀LLP,฀based฀upon฀their฀audits฀of฀the฀consolidated฀financial฀statements,฀is฀contained฀in฀this฀
Annual฀Report.
The฀Audit฀Committee฀of฀our฀Company’s฀Board฀of฀Directors,฀composed฀solely฀of฀independent฀directors,฀regularly฀meets฀with฀Ernst฀&฀Young,฀
management฀and฀internal฀auditors฀to฀discuss฀auditing฀and฀financial฀reporting฀matters฀and฀the฀system฀of฀internal฀control.฀The฀Committee฀also฀
meets฀regularly฀with฀Ernst฀&฀Young฀and฀the฀internal฀auditors฀without฀management฀present฀to฀discuss฀any฀matters฀that฀may฀require฀attention.
Management฀ maintains฀ a฀ system฀ of฀ internal฀ control฀ over฀ financial฀ reporting฀ that฀ provides฀ reasonable฀ assurance,฀ at฀ an฀ appropriate฀ cost-฀
benefit฀relationship,฀about฀the฀reliability฀of฀financial฀reporting.฀The฀system฀contains฀self-monitoring฀mechanisms,฀and฀is฀regularly฀tested฀by฀
Deloitte฀&฀Touche฀LLP,฀the฀Company’s฀internal฀auditors.฀Actions฀are฀taken฀to฀correct฀deficiencies฀as฀they฀are฀identified.฀Even฀an฀effective฀
internal฀control฀system,฀no฀matter฀how฀well฀designed,฀has฀inherent฀limitations—including฀the฀possibility฀of฀the฀circumvention฀or฀overriding฀
of฀ controls—and฀ therefore฀ can฀ provide฀ only฀ reasonable฀ assurance฀ with฀ respect฀ to฀ financial฀ statement฀ preparation.฀ Further,฀ because฀ of฀
changes฀in฀conditions,฀internal฀control฀system฀effectiveness฀may฀vary฀over฀time.
Steve฀Odland Michael฀G.฀Archbold
Chairman,฀President,฀and Executive฀Vice฀President฀and
Chief฀Executive฀Officer Chief฀Financial฀Officer
Customer฀Satisfaction Customer฀Satisfaction
Management’s฀Report