Shareholders and Board of Directors
Best Buy Co., Inc.
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Best
Buy Co., Inc. and subsidiaries as of March 1, 2003, and March 2, 2002,
and the related consolidated statements of earnings, changes in
shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in
the period ended March 1, 2003. These financial statements are the
responsibility of the Company’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. 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 Best Buy Co., Inc. and subsidiaries at March 1, 2003, and March 2,
2002, and the consolidated results of their operations and their cash
flows for each of the three years in the period ended March 1, 2003,
in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States.
As discussed in Notes 1 and 2 to the consolidated financial
statements, the Company changed its method of accounting for goodwill
to conform to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142 and
its method of accounting for cash consideration received from a vendor
to conform to Emerging Issues Task Force No. 02-16 effective March 3,
2002, respectively.