The Hartford 2008 Annual Report Download - page 328

Table of Contents
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
Hartford, Connecticut
We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and its
subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) as of December 31, 2008, based on the 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. 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, 2008, 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 and financial statement schedules as of and for the year ended December 31, 2008 of
the Company and our report, dated February 11, 2009, expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and
financial statement schedules and included an explanatory paragraph regarding the Company’s change in its method of
accounting and reporting for the fair value measurement of financial instruments in 2008, and defined benefit pension and
other postretirement plans in 2006.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Hartford, Connecticut
February 11, 2009
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Source: HARTFORD FINANCIAL S, 10-K, February 12, 2009