EXHIBIT
15-A
INDEPENDENT
ACCOUNTANTS’ REVIEW REPORT
Board of
Directors
National Steel
Corporation
We have
reviewed the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of National Steel
Corporation and subsidiaries (the Company) as of March 31, 2000, and the
related consolidated statements of income, cash flows and changes in
stockholders’ equity for the three-month period ended March 31, 2000
and 1999. These financial statements are the responsibility of the
Company’s management.
We
conducted our reviews in accordance with standards established by the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. A review of interim
financial information consists principally of applying analytical procedures
to financial data, and making inquiries of persons responsible for financial
and accounting matters. It is substantially less in scope than an audit
conducted in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the
United States, which will be performed for the full year with the objective
of expressing an opinion regarding the financial statements taken as a
whole. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion.
Based on
our reviews, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be
made to the accompanying consolidated financial statements referred to above
for them to be in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States.
As
discussed in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements, effective
January 1, 2000, the Company changed its method of accounting for
non-capital construction and major repair and maintenance costs from
expensing these costs throughout the year to expensing them in the interim
period in which they are incurred.
We have
previously audited, in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted
in the United States, the consolidated balance sheet of National Steel
Corporation and subsidiaries as of December 31, 1999, and the related
consolidated statements of income, cash flows and stockholders’ equity
for the year then ended (not presented here), and in our report dated
January 25, 2000, we expressed an unqualified opinion on those consolidated
financial statements. In our opinion, the information set forth in the
accompanying consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 1999, is fairly
stated, in all material respects, in relation to the consolidated balance
sheet from which it has been derived.
Indianapolis,
Indiana
May 12,
2000
