Entergy 2007 Annual Report Download - page 55

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Entergy Corporation and Subsidiaries 2007
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders
Entergy Corporation and Subsidiaries:
We have audited the internal control over nancial reporting of
Entergy Corporation and Subsidiaries (the “Corporation”) as
of December 31, 2007, based on criteria established in Internal
Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The
Corporation’s management is responsible for maintaining effective
internal control over nancial reporting and for its assessment of the
effectiveness of internal control over nancial reporting, included in
the accompanying Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on the Corporation’s internal
control over nancial 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
nancial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our
audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over
nancial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness may
exist, 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 nancial reporting is a process
designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s principal
executive and principal nancial ofcers, 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 nancial reporting and the preparation
of nancial statements for external purposes in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal
control over nancial reporting includes those policies and
procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in
reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reect the transactions and
dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable
assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit
preparation of nancial 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 nancial statements.
Because of the inherent limitations of internal control over
nancial 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 nancial 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 Corporation maintained, in all material
respects, effective internal control over nancial reporting as of
December 31, 2007, based on the criteria established in Internal
Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States),
the consolidated nancial statements as of and for the year ended
December 31, 2007 of the Corporation and our report dated February
28, 2008 expressed an unqualied opinion on those consolidated
nancial statements.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
New Orleans, LA
February 28, 2008
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING
e management of Entergy Corporation is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over nancial reporting for
Entergy. Entergy’s internal control system is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the preparation and fair presentation of Entergy’s
nancial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. erefore, even those systems determined to be eective
can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to nancial statement preparation and presentation.
Entergy’s management assessed the eectiveness of Entergy’s internal control over nancial reporting as of December 31, 2007. In making this
assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in
Internal Control - Integrated Framework.
Based on management’s assessment and the criteria set forth by COSO, Entergy’s management believes that Entergy maintained eective
internal control over nancial reporting as of December 31, 2007.
Entergy’s registered public accounting rm has issued an attestation report on Entergy’s internal control over nancial reporting.
C H A N G E S IN I N T E R N A L C O N T R O L S O V E R F I N A N C I A L R E P O R T I N G
Under the supervision and with the participation of Entergy’s management, including its CEO and CFO, Entergy evaluated changes in internal
control over nancial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended December 31, 2007 and found no change that has materially aected, or
is reasonably likely to materially aect, internal control over nancial reporting.