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Abbott A Annual Report 2006 signature
Page 31 of 40
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Management Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

The management of Abbott Laboratories is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Abbott’s internal control system was designed to provide reasonable assurance to the company’s management and board of directors regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published financial statements.

All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.

Abbott’s management assessed the effectiveness of the company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2006. In making this assessment, it used the criteria set forth in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. As allowed by SEC guidance, management excluded from its assessment the 2006 acquisitions of the Guidant businesses and Kos Pharmaceuticals, which accounted for approximately 20 percent of consolidated total assets and approximately 3 percent of consolidated net sales. Based on our assessment, we believe that, as of December 31, 2006, the company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective based on those criteria.

Abbott’s independent registered public accounting firm has issued an audit report on our assessment of the company’s internal control over financial reporting. This report appears on page 63.

Miles D. White
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Thomas C. Freyman
Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Greg W. Linder
Vice President and Controller

February 15, 2007

 

Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Abbott Laboratories:

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Abbott Laboratories and subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, and the related consolidated statements of earnings, shareholders’ investment, and cash flows for the years then ended. These consolidated 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 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, such consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Abbott Laboratories and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

As discussed in Notes 1, 4 and 9 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed its method of accounting for pension and other post employment benefits and share-based payments to adopt Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (”SFAS”) No. 158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans, and SFAS No. 123(R), Share-Based Payment.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, based on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated February 17, 2007, expressed an unqualified opinion on management’s assessment of the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting and an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Deloitte & Touche LLP
Chicago, Illinois
February 15, 2007

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Abbott Laboratories:

We have audited management’s assessment, included in the accompanying Management Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting dated February 15, 2007 (Management’s Report), that Abbott Laboratories and subsidiaries (the Company) maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. As described in Management’s Report, management excluded from its assessment the internal control over financial reporting for the 2006 acquisitions of the Guidant businesses (Guidant) and Kos Pharmaceuticals (Kos), which accounted for approximately 20 percent of consolidated total assets and approximately 3 percent of consolidated net sales. Accordingly, our audit did not include the internal control over financial reporting at Guidant or Kos. 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 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 opinions.

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 in 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, management’s assessment that the Company maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, is fairly stated, in all material respects, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2006, 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 of the Company as of and for the year ended December 31, 2006 and our report dated February 15, 2007 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and included an explanatory paragraph regarding the Company’s adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (”SFAS”) No. 158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans, and SFAS No. 123(R), Share-Based Payment, in 2006.

Deloitte & Touche LLP
Chicago, Illinois
February 15, 2007

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