Charles Schwab 2015 Annual Report Download - page 121

- 101 -
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of The Charles Schwab Corporation
San Francisco, California
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of The Charles Schwab Corporation and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as
of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity, and cash
flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015. Our audits also included the financial statement schedule of the
Company on page F-2. We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015, based on
the criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission. The Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements and financial statement schedule, 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’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to
express an opinion on the financial statements and financial statement schedule and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over
financial reporting based on our 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 audit 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 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, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of The
Charles Schwab Corporation and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for
each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United
States of America. Also, in our opinion, such financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated financial
statements taken as a whole, presents fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein. Also, in our opinion, the Company
maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2015, based on the criteria
established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway
Commission.
D
ELOITTE & TOUCHE LL
P
San Francisco, California
February 24, 2016