Staples 2013 Annual Report Download - page 133

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C-2
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
The Board of Directors and Shareholders of
Staples, Inc.
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Staples, Inc. and subsidiaries as of February 1, 2014
and February 2, 2013, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders' equity, and cash
flows for each of the three years in the period ended February 1, 2014. Our audits also included the financial statement schedule
listed in the Index at Item 15(a) 2. These financial statements and schedules are the responsibility of the Company's management.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and 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 financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial
position of Staples, Inc. and subsidiaries at February 1, 2014 and February 2, 2013, and the consolidated results of their operations
and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended February 1, 2014, 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
financial statements taken as a whole, presents 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), Staples, Inc.'s internal control over financial reporting as of February 1, 2014, based on criteria established in Internal
Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (1992
framework) and our report dated March 6, 2014 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Boston, Massachusetts
March 6, 2014