Prudential 2007 Annual Report Download - page 100

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of
Prudential Financial, Inc.:
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated statements of financial position and the related consolidated statements of operations,
of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its
subsidiaries at December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006 and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three
years in the period ended December 31, 2007 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31,
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 these financial statements, 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 Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express opinions on
these financial statements and on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our integrated 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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement and
whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the financial statements
included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting
principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of
internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk
that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed
risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our
audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Our audits were conducted for the purpose of forming an opinion on the consolidated financial statements taken as a whole. The
accompanying supplemental combining financial information is presented for the purposes of additional analysis of the consolidated
financial statements rather than to present the financial position and results of operations of the individual components. Such supplemental
information has been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audits of the consolidated financial statements and, in our opinion,
is fairly stated in all material respects in relation to the consolidated financial statements taken as a whole.
As described in Note 2 of the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed its method of accounting for uncertainty in
income taxes, for deferred acquisition costs in connection with modifications or exchanges of insurance contracts, and for income tax-
related cash flows generated by a leveraged lease transaction on January 1, 2007 and for defined benefit pension and other postretirement
plans on December 31, 2006.
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 (i) pertain to the maintenance
of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) 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 (iii) 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.
New York, New York
February 27, 2008
98 Prudential Financial 2007 Annual Report