Progress Energy 2010 Annual Report Download - page 58

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS OF PROGRESS ENERGY, INC.:
We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Progress Energy, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”)
as of December 31, 2010, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee
of฀Sponsoring฀Organizations฀of฀the฀Treadway฀Commission.฀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, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on 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, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing
and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, 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 by, or under the supervision of, the
company’s principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by
the company’s board of directors, management, and other personnel 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 the inherent limitations of internal control over financial reporting, including the possibility of collusion
or improper management override of controls, material misstatements due to error or fraud may not be prevented or
detected on a timely basis. Also, projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal control over financial
reporting to future periods are subject to the risk that the 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, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of
December 31, 2010, based on the criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee
of฀Sponsoring฀Organizations฀of฀the฀Treadway฀Commission.
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United
States), the consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2010 of the Company, and our
report dated February 28, 2011, expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated financial statements.
Raleigh, North Carolina
February 28, 2011
REPORTS OF MANAGEMENT AND INDEPENDENT
REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM