Equifax 2003 Annual Report Download - page 67

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64 EQUIFAX. INFORMATION THAT EMPOWERS.
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 sheets
of Equifax Inc. (the “ Company”) as of December 31, 2003 and 2002,
and the related consolidated statements of income, shareholders’
equity and comprehensive income and cash flows for the years
then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the
Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion
on these financial statements based on our audits. The consolidated
financial statements of the Company for the year ended December 31,
2001, were audited by other auditors who have ceased operations
and whose report dated February 8, 2002 expressed an unqualified
opinion on those statements before the revisions in the consoli-
dated statements of income, shareholders’ equity and comprehen-
sive income of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2001,
and as described in Notes 1, 6, and 10.
We conducted our audits 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 state-
ments. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles
used and significant estimates made by management, as well as
evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe
that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, the 2003 and 2002 financial statements referred to
above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated
financial position of the Company at December 31, 2003 and 2002,
and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for
the years 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 for the year ended December 31, 2001 were audited by
other auditors who have ceased operations. However, the Company
made certain adjustments and disclosures to these financial state-
ments to conform with the current year’s presentation or to comply
with adoption requirements of new accounting pronouncements,
as follows:
(i) The consolidated statement of income of the Company for the
year ended December 31, 2001 has 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 2001. 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 statement
of income.
(ii) The consolidated statement of shareholders’ equity and
comprehensive income of the Company for the year ended
December 31, 2001 has 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 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) recalculating the minimum pension
liability, net of tax, and the cash flow hedging transactions,
net of tax, balances.