Barclays 2010 Annual Report Download - page 188

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Barclays PLC
In our opinion, the accompanying Consolidated income statements and
the related Consolidated balance sheets, Consolidated cash flow
statements and, Consolidated statements of comprehensive income and
Consolidated statements of changes in equity present fairly, in all material
respects, the financial position of Barclays PLC (the ‘Company’) and its
subsidiaries at 31st December 2010 and 31st December 2009 and the
results of their operations and cash flows for each of the three years in
the period ended 31st December 2010, in conformity with International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as issued by the International
Accounting Standards Board. Also, in our opinion the Company
maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting as of 31st December 2010, based on criteria established in
Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). The
Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements,
for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its
assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting,
included in ’Management’s report on internal control over financial
reporting’ as it pertains to Barclays PLC in the Directors report. Our
responsibility is to express opinions on these financial statements and
on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our
integrated audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards
require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material
misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial
reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the
financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence
supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements,
assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made
by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement
presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting 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 audits also included performing such other
procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe
that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
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 (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in
reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and
dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) 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 authorisations of management
and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance
regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorised 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.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
London, United Kingdom
10th March 2011
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm’s report
186 Barclays PLC Annual Report 2010 www.barclays.com/annualreport10