Harris Teeter 2007 Annual Report Download - page 31

27
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Shareholders
Ruddick Corporation:
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Ruddick Corporation and subsidiaries
(the Company) as of September 30, 2007 and October 1, 2006, and the related consolidated statements of income,
shareholders’ equity and comprehensive income, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period
ended September 30, 2007. In connection with our audits of the consolidated financial statements, we also
have audited the financial statement schedule “valuation and qualifying accounts and reserves” for each of the
years in the three-year period ended September 30, 2007. These consolidated financial statements and financial
statement schedule are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an
opinion on these consolidated financial statements and financial statement schedule 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 audit to obtain reasonable assurance
about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. 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 evaluating the
overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material
respects, the financial position of the Company as of September 30, 2007 and October 1, 2006, and the results
of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended September 30, 2007,
in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also in our opinion, the related financial
statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated financial statements taken as a whole,
present fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board (United States), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2007, based
on criteria established in “Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO),” and our report dated November 28, 2007 expressed an
unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
As discussed in the Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, the Company adopted Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards No. 123 (revised 2004), “Share-Based Payment” effective October 3, 2005,
and Financial Accounting Standards Board Staff Position 13-1, “Accounting for Rental Costs Incurred During
a Construction Period” effective January 2, 2006. Additionally, the Company adopted the provisions of the
Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 158, “Employers’
Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans” as of September 30, 2007.
KPMG LLP
Charlotte, North Carolina
November 28, 2007