Report of Independent Auditors
To the Shareholders and
Board of Directors of
Dreyfus Balanced Fund, Inc.
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of Dreyfus
Balanced Fund, Inc. for the year ended August 31, 2000, we considered its
internal control, including control activities for safeguarding securities,
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 internal control.
The management of Dreyfus Balanced Fund, Inc. 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 control. Generally, internal 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 internal controls include
the safeguarding of assets against unauthorized acquisition, use, or
disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, misstatements due to
errors or fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projections of any
evaluation of internal control to future periods are subject to the risk that
internal control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or
that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may
deteriorate.
Our consideration of 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 specific 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
internal control, including control activities for safeguarding securities,
and its operation that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above
at August 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Board of
Directors and management of Dreyfus Balanced Fund, Inc., and the Securities
and Exchange Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by
anyone other than these specified parties.
ERNST & YOUNG LLP
October 11, 2000
