REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the
Shareholders and Board of Directors of
TCW Strategic
Income Fund, Inc.
In planning
and performing our audit of the financial statements of TCW Strategic Income
Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”) as of and for the year ended December 31, 2023, in
accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(United States) (PCAOB), we considered the Fund’s internal control over
financial reporting, including controls over safeguarding securities, as a
basis for designing our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form
N-CEN, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of
the Fund’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express
no such opinion.
The
management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and maintaining
effective internal control over financial reporting. In fulfilling this
responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required to assess
the expected benefits and related costs of controls. A fund’s internal control
over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance
regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally
accepted accounting principles. A fund’s internal control over financial
reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance
of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the
transactions and dispositions of the assets of the fund; (2) provide reasonable
assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of
financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the fund are being made only
in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the fund; and
(3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of
unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of a fund’s assets that could
have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of
its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not
prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of
effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may
become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of
compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
A deficiency
in internal control over financial reporting exists when the design or
operation of a control does not allow management or employees, in the normal
course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent or detect misstatements
on a timely basis. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of
deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is
a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the fund’s annual or
interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely
basis.
Our
consideration of the Fund’s internal control over financial reporting was for
the limited purpose described in the first paragraph and would not necessarily
disclose all deficiencies in internal control that might be material weaknesses
under standards established by the PCAOB. However, we noted no deficiencies in
the Fund’s internal control over financial reporting and its operation,
including controls for safeguarding securities, that we consider to be a
material weakness, as defined above, as of December 31, 2023.