The Report of Independent Auditors of Ernst & Young LLP, the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2002 and 2001, Combined and Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three years ended December 31, 2002, Combined and Consolidated Statements of Common Stockholder’s Equity (Deficit) for the three years ended December 31, 2002, Combined and Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the three years ended December 31, 2002 and Notes to Combined and Consolidated Financial Statements are hereby incorporated by reference from the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on March 31, 2003. Report of Independent Accountants To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of Compass Minerals Group, Inc.: In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(1) present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Compass Minerals Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries at December 31, 2002, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for the year then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. In addition, in our opinion, the financial statement schedule listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(2) after the restatement described therein, presents fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein as of and for the year ended December 31, 2002 when read in conjunction with the related consolidated financial statements. These financial statements and financial statement schedule are the responsibility of the Company’s management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial statement schedule based on our audit. We conducted our audit of these statements in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America, which 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, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Kansas City, Missouri March 24, 2003 except for the restatement described above which is as of April 16, 2003
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