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## The Board of Directors and Stockholders 

## The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.: 

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and subsidiaries as of June 30, 2003 and 2002, and the related consolidated statements of earnings, stockholders’ equity and comprehensive income and cash flows for the years then ended. These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audits. The 2001 financial statements of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and subsidiaries were audited by other auditors who have ceased operations. Those auditors expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements, before the revision described in Note 2 to the financial statements, in their report dated August 10, 2001. 

We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits 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. 

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and subsidiaries as of June 30, 2003 and 2002, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for the years then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. 

As discussed above, the 2001 consolidated financial statements of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and subsidiaries were audited by other auditors who have ceased operations. As described in Note 2, these financial statements have been revised to include the transitional disclosures required by Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets,” which was adopted by the Company as of July 1, 2001. In our opinion, the disclosures for 2001 in Note 2 are appropriate. However, we were not engaged to audit, review, or apply any procedures to the 2001 consolidated financial statements of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and subsidiaries other than with respect to such disclosures and, accordingly, we do not express an opinion or any other form of assurance on the 2001 consolidated financial statements taken as a whole. 

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