Mercury Insurance 2009 Annual Report Download - page 116

MERCURY GENERAL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
The Company maintains disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to
be disclosed in the Company’s reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is recorded,
processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange
Commission rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s
management, including its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow for
timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and
procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated,
can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management necessarily
was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.
As required by Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 13a-15(b), the Company carried out an
evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of the Company’s management, including its Chief
Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s
disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on the foregoing, the
Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure
controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control
over financial reporting. The Company’s internal control system was designed to provide reasonable assurance to
the Company’s management and Board of Directors regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published
financial statements.
All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those
systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement
preparation and presentation.
The Company’s management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2009. In making this assessment, it used the criteria set forth by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control—Integrated
Framework. Based upon its assessment, the Company’s management believes that, as of December 31, 2009, the
Company’s internal control over financial reporting is effective based on these criteria.
KPMG LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm that audited the consolidated financial
statements included in this 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K, has issued an audit report on the effectiveness of
the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009, which is included in herein.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There has been no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting during the Company’s
most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s
internal control over financial reporting. The Company’s process for evaluating controls and procedures is
continuous and encompasses constant improvement of the design and effectiveness of established controls and
procedures and the remediation of any deficiencies which may be identified during this process.
Item 9B. Other Information
None.
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