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page 40 of 66 |  |
Report of independent auditors
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Board of Governors
United States Postal Service
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of the United States Postal Service as of September 30, 2005 and 2004, and the related statements of operations, changes in net capital (deficiency) and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended September 30, 2005. These financial statements are the responsibility of the United States Postal Service’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the 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. We were not engaged to perform an audit of the United States Postal Service’s internal control over financial reporting. Our audits included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the United States Postal Service’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes 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. 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 respective financial position of the United States Postal Service as of September 30, 2005 and 2004, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended September 30, 2005 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, we have also issued our reports dated November 14, 2005 and November 10, 2004, for fiscal years 2005 and 2004, respectively, on our consideration of the United States Postal Service’s internal control over financial reporting and on our tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, and contracts and other matters. The purpose of that report is to describe the scope of our testing of internal control over financial reporting and compliance and the results of that testing, and not to provide an opinion on the internal control over financial reporting or on compliance. That report is an integral part of an audit performed in accordance with Government Auditing Standards and should be considered in assessing the results of our audit.
Mclean, VA |
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