To
The Board of Directors and Shareowners of Verizon Communications
Inc.:
We have audited management’s assessment, included in
the accompanying Report of Management on Internal Control
Over Financial Reporting, that Verizon Communications
Inc. and subsidiaries (Verizon) maintained effective
internal control over financial reporting as of December
31, 2004, based on criteria established in Internal
Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee
of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission
(the COSO criteria). Verizon’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 management’s assessment
and an opinion on the effectiveness of 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, evaluating management’s assessment,
testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness
of internal control, 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 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 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.
In our opinion, management’s assessment that Verizon
maintained effective internal control over financial
reporting, as of December 31, 2004, is fairly stated,
in all material respects, based on the COSO criteria.
Also, in our opinion, Verizon maintained, in all material
respects, effective internal control over financial
reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on the COSO
criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards
of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United
States), the consolidated balance sheets of Verizon
as of December 31, 2004 and 2003, and the related consolidated
statements of income, cash flows and changes in shareowners’
investment for each of the three years in the period
ended December 31, 2004 and our report dated February
22, 2005 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Ernst & Young LLP
New York, New York
February 22, 2005 |
