EXHIBIT
23(iii)
REPORT OF
INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS
To the Board of
Directors and Policyholders of
MML Bay State Life
Insurance Company:
We have audited the accompanying statutory
statement of financial position of MML Bay State Life Insurance Company as
of December 31, 1998, and the related statutory statements of income and
changes in shareholder’s equity, and of cash flows for each of the two
years in the period ended December 31, 1998. These financial statements are
the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is
to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our
audits.
We conducted our audits of these statements in
accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards
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. An audit also includes
assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by
management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement
presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our
opinion. We have not audited the financial statements of MML Bay State Life
Insurance Company for any period subsequent to December 31,
1998.
As described in Note 1, these financial
statements were prepared in conformity with accounting practices prescribed
or permitted by the Department of Insurance of the State of Connecticut, and
prior to June 30, 1997, the Department of Insurance of the State of
Missouri, which practices differ from generally accepted accounting
principles. The effects on the financial statements of the variances between
the statutory basis of accounting and generally accepted accounting
principles, although not reasonably determinable, are presumed to be
material.
In our opinion, because of the effects of the
matter discussed in the preceding paragraph, the financial statements
audited by us do not present fairly, in conformity with generally accepted
accounting principles, the financial position of MML Bay State Life
Insurance Company as of December 31, 1998, or the results of its operations
or its cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31,
1998.
In our opinion, the financial statements
audited by us, present fairly, in all material respects, the financial
position of MML Bay State Life Insurance Company as of December 31, 1998,
and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two
years in the period ended December 31, 1998, on the basis of accounting
described in Note 1.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Hartford,
Connecticut
February 25,
1999
