CenterPoint Energy 2012 Annual Report Download - page 79

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57
MANAGEMENT’S ANNUAL REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL
OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal
control over financial reporting is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s principal executive and principal financial officers 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 and includes those policies and procedures that:
• Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions
of the assets of the company;
• 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
• 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.
Management has designed its internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability
of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in
the United States of America. Management’s assessment included review and testing of both the design effectiveness and operating
effectiveness of controls over all relevant assertions related to all significant accounts and disclosures in the financial statements.
All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined
to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. 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.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal
financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the
framework in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission. Based on our evaluation under the framework in Internal Control — Integrated Framework, our management has
concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2012.
Deloitte & Touche LLP, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, has issued an attestation report on the
effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2012 which is included herein on page 56.
/s/ DAVID M. MCCLANAHAN
President and Chief Executive Officer
/s/ GARY L. WHITLOCK
Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer
February 27, 2013