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SIGNATURE VINCENT P. CORTI
TITLE SECRETARY
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
American Mutual Fund, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the
financial statements of American Mutual Fund, Inc.
(the "Fund") for the year ended October 31, 1999
(on which we have issued our report dated November
30, 1999), we considered its internal control,
including control activities 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, and not to
provide assurance on the Fund's internal control.
The management of the Fund is responsible for
establishing and maintaining internal control. In
fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and
judgments by management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of controls.
Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit
pertain to the entity's objective of preparing
financial statements for external purposes that are
fairly presented in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles. Those controls
include the safeguarding of assets against
unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal
control, errors or fraud may occur and may not be
detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of
internal control 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 Fund's internal control
would not necessarily disclose all matters in
internal control 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 one or more of the internal
control components does not reduce to a relatively
low level the risk that errors or fraud 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 Fund's internal control and its operation,
including controls for safeguarding securities,
that we consider to be material weaknesses as
defined above as of October 31, 1999.
This report is intended solely for the information
and use of management, the Board of Directors of
American Mutual Fund, Inc., and the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Los Angeles, California
November 30, 1999
WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
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