BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 26, 2024.
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FY2023 · Filed Feb 26, 2024
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Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGIST ERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of
Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of earnings, comprehensive income, changes in shareholders’ equity, and cash flows, for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also, in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.
Change in Accounting Principle
As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, effective January 1, 2023, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update 2018-12 Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, using the modified retrospective approach.
Basis for Opinions
The Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures to respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting
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.
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.
Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses — Refer to Notes 1 and 16 to the financial statements
The Company’s unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses (“claim liabilities”) include short duration property and casualty insurance and reinsurance contracts. Key assumptions affecting certain of these claim liabilities include anticipated claims and their severity, expected loss ratios, and expected patterns of paid and incurred losses.
Given the subjectivity of estimating these key assumptions, performing audit procedures to evaluate whether certain of these claim liabilities were appropriately recorded as of December 31, 2023 required a high degree of auditor judgment and an increased extent of effort, including the need to involve our actuarial specialists.
Our audit procedures related to the key assumptions affecting certain of these claim liabilities included the following, among others:
We tested the operating effectiveness of controls over claim liabilities, including those over the key assumptions.
We tested the underlying data that served as the basis for the actuarial analysis to evaluate that the inputs to the actuarial estimate were accurate and complete.
With the assistance of our actuarial specialists:
We developed independent estimates of the claim liabilities, including loss data and industry claim development factors as needed, and compared our estimates to management’s estimates.
We compared prior year estimates of expected incurred losses to actual experience during the most recent year to identify potential bias in management’s determination of the claim liabilities.
Unpaid Losses and Loss Adjustment Expenses — Retroactive Reinsurance Contracts — Refer to Notes 1 and 17 to the financial statements
The Company’s unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses under retroactive reinsurance contracts (“retroactive claim liabilities”) include property and casualty retroactive reinsurance contracts. Key assumptions affecting certain of these retroactive claim liabilities include anticipated claims and their severity, expected loss ratios, and expected patterns of paid and incurred losses.
Given the subjectivity of estimating these key assumptions, performing audit procedures to evaluate whether certain of these claim liabilities were appropriately recorded as of December 31, 2023, required a high degree of auditor judgment and an increased extent of effort, including the need to involve our actuarial specialists.
Our audit procedures related to the key assumptions affecting claim liabilities included the following, among others:
We tested the operating effectiveness of controls over claim liabilities, including those over the key assumptions.
We tested the underlying data that served as the basis for the actuarial analysis, including historical claims, to test that the inputs to the actuarial estimate were accurate and complete.
With the assistance of our actuarial specialists:
We developed independent claim liability estimates for certain retroactive reinsurance contracts and compared our estimates to management’s estimates. For other retroactive reinsurance contracts, we evaluated the process used by management to develop the estimated claim liabilities.
We compared prior year estimates of expected incurred losses to actual experience during the most recent year to identify potential bias in management’s determination of the claim liabilities.
Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets — Refer to Notes 1 and 13 to the financial statements
The Company’s evaluation of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment involves the comparison of the fair value of each reporting unit or asset to its carrying value. As of December 31, 2023, goodwill of approximately $8 billion and indefinite-lived intangible assets of $13 billion were recorded at the Precision Castparts Corp. (“PCC”) reporting unit. PCC primarily uses discounted projected future net earnings to estimate fair value, which requires management to make significant estimates and assumptions related to forecasted future revenue, earnings before interest and taxes (“EBIT”), and discount rates.
Given the significant judgments made by management in their evaluation of potential impairment of PCC goodwill and PCC indefinite-lived intangible assets and the difference between their fair values and carrying values, performing audit procedures to evaluate the reasonableness of management’s estimates and assumptions required a high degree of auditor judgment. Increased audit effort, including the need to involve our fair value specialists, was required to test management’s estimates and assumptions of forecasted future revenue and EBIT and the selection of the discount rate.
Our audit procedures related to forecasts of future revenue and EBIT and the selection of the discount rate for the PCC reporting unit and certain customer relationships included the following, among others:
We tested the effectiveness of controls over goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets, including those over the forecasts of future revenue and EBIT and the selection of the discount rate.
We evaluated management’s ability to accurately forecast future revenue and EBIT by comparing prior year forecasts to actual results in the respective years.
We evaluated the reasonableness of management’s current revenue and EBIT forecasts by comparing the forecasts to historical results, newly executed long-term contracts, customer demand and build schedules, and forecasted information included in analyst and industry reports and certain peer companies’ disclosures.
With the assistance of our fair value specialists, we evaluated the valuation methodologies, the terminal growth rates and discount rate, including testing the underlying source information and the mathematical accuracy of the calculations, and developed a range of independent estimates and compared those to the terminal growth rates and discount rate selected by management.
With the assistance of our fair value specialists, we evaluated the valuation methodologies, and the terminal growth rates and discount rate. We tested the underlying source information and mathematical accuracy of calculations and developed a range of independent estimates and compared those to the terminal growth rates and discount rate selected by management.
/s/Deloitte & Touche LLP
Omaha, Nebraska
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1985.
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