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SIGNATURE PATRICK F. QUAN
TITLE SECRETARY
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
American Balanced Fund, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of
American Balanced Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") for the year ended December 31,
1996, we considered its internal control structure, including procedures
for safeguarding securities, in order to determine our auditing procedures
for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the financial statements and
to comply with the requirements of Form N-SAR, not to provide assurance on
the internal control structure.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and maintaining
an internal control structure. In fulfilling this responsibility,
estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the expected
benefits and related costs of internal control structure policies and
procedures. Two of the objectives of an internal control structure are to
provide management with reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets
are safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition and that
transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorization and
recorded properly to permit preparation of financial statements in
conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control structure, errors
or irregularities may occur and may not be detected. Also, projection of
any evaluation of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk
that it may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the
effectiveness of the design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the internal control structure would not necessarily
disclose all matters in the internal control structure that might be
material weaknesses under standards established by the American Institute
of Certified Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in
which the design or operation of the specific internal control structure
elements does not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that errors or
irregularities in amounts that would be material in relation to the
financial statements being audited may occur and not be detected within a
timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their
assigned functions. However, we noted no matters involving the internal
control structure, including procedures for safeguarding securities, that
we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of December 31,
1996.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management
and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Los Angeles, California
January 29, 1997
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