Harris Teeter 2007 Annual Report Download - page 32

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28
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Shareholders
Ruddick Corporation:
We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report
on Internal Controls over Financial Reporting that Ruddick Corporation and subsidiaries (the Company)
maintained effective 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).” The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective
internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over
financial reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on management’s assessment and an opinion on
the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.
We conducted our audit 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 effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our
audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, evaluating management’s
assessment, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control, and performing
such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a
reasonable basis for our opinion.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance
regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes
in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial
reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable
detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide
reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial 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 (3)
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 financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial 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.
In our opinion, management’s assessment that the Company maintained effective internal control
over financial reporting as of September 30, 2007, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on criteria
established in “Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations
of the Treadway Commission (COSO).” Also, in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects,
effective 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).”
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board (United States), the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Ruddick Corporation and subsidiaries
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, and our report dated November 28, 2007 expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated
financial statements.
KPMG LLP
Charlotte, North Carolina
November 28, 2007