Goldman Sachs 2009 Annual Report Download - page 86

Goldman Sachs 2009 Annual Report
84
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and the Shareholders
of The GoldmanSachs Group, Inc.:
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated statements of
 nancial condition and the related consolidated statements
of earnings, changes in shareholders’ equity, cash  ows and
comprehensive income present fairly, in all material respects,
the  nancial position of The GoldmanSachs Group, Inc. and
its subsidiaries (the Company) at December31, 2009 and
November28, 2008, and the results of its operations and
its cash  ows for the  scal years ended December31, 2009,
November28, 2008 and November30, 2007 and for the one-
month period ended December26, 2008 in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States
of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained,
in all material respects, effective internal control over
 nancial reporting as of December31, 2009, based on criteria
established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework
issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission (COSO). The Company’s management
is responsible for these  nancial statements, for maintaining
effective internal control over  nancial reporting and for
its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over
 nancial reporting, included in Management’s Report
on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing
on page 83. Our responsibility is to express opinions on
these  nancial statements and on the Company’s internal
control over  nancial 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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the
 nancial statements are free of material misstatement and
whether effective internal control over  nancial reporting
was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the
 nancial statements included examining, on a test basis,
evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
 nancial statements, assessing the accounting principles
used and signi cant estimates made by management, and
evaluating the overall  nancial statement presentation. Our
audit of internal control over  nancial reporting included
obtaining an understanding of internal control over  nancial
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  nancial reporting is a
process designed 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 (i)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; (ii)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 (iii)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 its inherent limitations, internal control over
 nancial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements.
Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future
periods are subject to the risk that controls may become
inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the
degree of compliance with the policies or procedures
maydeteriorate.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
NewYork, NewYork
February 26, 2010