Equifax 2004 Annual Report Download - page 48

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46
The Board of Directors and Stockholders of Equifax Inc.:
R E P O R T O F I N D E P E N D E N T R E G I S T E R E D P U B L I C A C C O U N T I N G F I R M
O N C O N S O L I D A T E D F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance
sheets of Equifax Inc., as of December 31, 2004 and 2003,
and the related consolidated statements of operations,
shareholders’ equity and comprehensive income (loss), and
cash fl ows for each of the three years in the period ended
December 31, 2004. These fi nancial statements are the
responsibility of the Company’s management. Our respon-
sibility is to express an opinion on these fi nancial state-
ments based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with 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
fi nancial statements are free of material misstatement. An
audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence support-
ing the amounts and disclosures in the fi nancial statements.
An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles
used and signifi cant estimates made by management, as
well as evaluating the overall fi nancial statement position.
We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for
our opinion.
In our opinion, the consolidated fi nancial statements referred
to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consoli-
dated fi nancial position of Equifax Inc. at December 31,
2004 and 2003, and the consolidated results of its operations
and its cash fl ows for each of the three years in the period
ended December 31, 2004, in conformity with U.S. generally
accepted accounting principles.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of
the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United
States), the effectiveness of Equifax Inc.’s internal control
over fi nancial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based
on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated
Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our
report dated March 15, 2005 expressed an unqualifi ed
opinion therein.
Atlanta, Georgia
March 15, 2005