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This excerpt taken from the PBR 20-F filed May 22, 2009. Item 15. Controls
and Procedures
Evaluation
of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Both PifCo and we have evaluated, with the participation of our
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the
effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of
December 31, 2008. There are inherent limitations to the
effectiveness of any system of disclosure controls and
procedures, including the possibility of human error and the
circumvention or overriding of the controls and procedures.
Accordingly, even effective disclosure controls and procedures
can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control
objectives. Based upon our evaluation, our Chief Executive
Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our
disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2008
were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information
required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or
submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized
and reported, within the time periods specified in the
applicable rules and forms, and that it is accumulated and
communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive
Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow
timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Management’s
Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The managements of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.—PETROBRAS
and Petrobras International Finance Company— PifCo
(each, a “Company”) are responsible for establishing
and maintaining
effective internal control over financial reporting and for
their assessments of the effectiveness of internal control over
financial reporting.
Each Company’s internal control over financial reporting is
a process designed by, or under the supervision of
Petrobras’ Audit Committee and each of the Company’s
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and effected by
each Company’s board of directors, management, and other
personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
consolidated financial statements for external purposes in
accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States. Each Company’s internal control over
financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that
(i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in
reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the
transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company;
(ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are
recorded as necessary to permit preparation of consolidated
financial statements in accordance with accounting principles
generally accepted in the United States, and that receipts and
expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance
with authorizations of management and directors of the Company;
and (iii) 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 consolidated financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over
financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements on a
timely basis. Therefore, even those systems determined to be
effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to
consolidated financial statements preparation and presentation.
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.
Each of the Company’s management assessed the effectiveness
of each Company’s 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
Table of Contents
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
Based on that assessment, each of the Company’s management
has concluded that as of December 31, 2008, each
Company’s internal control over financial reporting is
effective.
The effectiveness of each of the Company’s internal control
over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008, has been
audited by KPMG Auditores Independentes, an independent
registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report
which appears herein.
Changes
in Internal Controls
The management of each Company identified no change in its
internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal year
ended December 31, 2008, that has materially affected or is
reasonably likely to materially affect its internal control over
financial reporting.
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