Equifax 2002 Annual Report Download - page 67

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS
REPORT OF ERNST & YOUNG LLP,
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS
EQUIFAX INC.
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet
of Equifax Inc. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2002, and the
related consolidated statements of income, shareholders’ equity
and comprehensive income and cash flows for the year then
ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the
Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opin-
ion on these financial statements based on our audit. The consoli-
dated financial statements of the Company as of December 31,
2001, and for the two years then ended, were audited by other
auditors who have ceased operations and whose report dated
February 8, 2002 expressed an unqualified opinion on those state-
ments before the revisions in the consolidated statements of
shareholders’ equity and comprehensive income of the Company
for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2001,
and as described in Notes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12.
We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards
generally accepted in the 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 mis-
statement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence
supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.
An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used
and significant estimates made by management, as well as eval-
uating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe
that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, the 2002 financial statements referred to above
present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial
position of the Company at December 31, 2002, and the consoli-
dated results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then
ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States.
As described in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements,
effective January 1, 2002, the Company changed its method of
accounting for goodwill and other intangible assets to conform
with Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 142,
Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets.
As discussed above, the consolidated financial statements of
the Company as of December 31, 2001 and for the two years then
ended were audited by other auditors who have ceased opera-
tions. However, the Company made certain adjustments and
disclosures to the prior years’ financial statements to conform
with the current year’s presentation or to comply with adoption
requirements of new accounting pronouncements, as follows:
(i) The consolidated statements of income of the Company for
each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2001
have been revised to separately disclose depreciation
expense, amortization expense and goodwill amortization
expense which were classified within cost of services and
selling, general and administrative expenses in the prior
years. Our audit procedures with respect to these revisions
included (a) agreeing the depreciation expense, amortization
expense and goodwill amortization expense balances to the
Company’s underlying records obtained from management,
and (b) testing the mathematical accuracy of the revisions
within the consolidated statements of income.
(ii) The consolidated statements of shareholders’ equity and com-
prehensive income of the Company for each of the two years
in the period ended December 31, 2001 have been revised to
include the income tax effect for the minimum pension liability
and cash flow hedging transactions. Our audit procedures with
respect to the income tax effects for 2001 and 2000 included
(a) agreeing the previously reported minimum pension liability
and cash flow hedging transactions before tax balances to the
previously issued financial statements, (b) re-calculating the
income tax effect for the minimum pension liability and cash
flow hedging transactions using the Company’s income tax
rate for the respective year, and (c) re-calculating the minimum
pension liability, net of tax, and the cash flow hedging transac-
tions, net of tax, balances.
(iii) As discussed in Note 1, the consolidated financial statements
of the Company as of December 31, 2001 and for each of the
two years in the period then ended have been revised to
include the disclosures required by Statement of Financial
Accounting Standards No. 142, Goodwill and Other Intangibles,
which was adopted by the Company as of January 1, 2002.
Our audit procedures with respect to the disclosures in Note 1
with respect to 2001 and 2000 included (a) agreeing the pre-
viously reported net income to the previously issued financial
statements, (b) agreeing the adjustments to reported net
income representing amortization expense (including any
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