Harris Teeter 2008 Annual Report Download - page 33

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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 28, 2008 and September 30, 2007, 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 28, 2008. In connection with our audits of the consolidated financial statements, we
also have audited the financial statement schedule “Valuation and Qualifying Accounts and Reserves.” 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 and subsidiaries as of September 28, 2008 and September 30,
2007, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended
September 28, 2008, 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 28, 2008, 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 21, 2008, 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 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, and Financial Accounting Standards
Board Interpretation No. 48, “Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes – an Interpretation of FASB Statement
109” effective October 1, 2007.
KPMG LLP
Charlotte, North Carolina
November 21, 2008