Exhibit 99.ACCT
EXHIBIT(a)(4)
KPMG LLP (KPMG) served as the independent registered public accounting firm of the Portfolios, included in Appendix A, of the Advanced Series Trust (the “Trust”), for the Portfolios’ fiscal years ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2019. KPMG’s reports on the financial statements for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2019 contained no adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion nor were they qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope or accounting principle. During such fiscal year-ends and through January 25, 2020, the date of dismissal, (i) there were no disagreements with KPMG on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or auditing scope or procedure, which disagreements, if not resolved to the satisfaction of KPMG, would have caused them to make reference to the subject matter of the disagreements in connection with their reports on the Portfolios’ financial statements for such period, and (ii) there were no “reportable events” of the kind described in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of RegulationS-K under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
On January 25, 2020, the Audit Committee and the Trust’s Board of Trustees approved the engagement of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), to serve as the independent registered public accounting firm for the Portfolios’ fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, thereby replacing KPMG effective upon completion of their December 31, 2019 audits and issuances of their reports thereon. During the Portfolios’ fiscal years ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2019 and through January 25, 2020, neither the Trust nor the Portfolios, nor anyone on their behalf, consulted with PwC on items which: (i) concerned the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on the Portfolios’ financial statements; or (ii) concerned the subject of a disagreement (as defined in paragraph (a)(1)(iv) of Item 304 of RegulationS-K) or reportable events (as described in paragraph (a)(1)(v) of said Item 304).
Appendix A:
Advanced Series Trust (1 OF 2 AST Filings)-
AST AQR Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio
AST Bond Portfolio 2020
AST Bond Portfolio 2021
AST Bond Portfolio 2022
AST Bond Portfolio 2023
AST Bond Portfolio 2024
AST Bond Portfolio 2025
AST Bond Portfolio 2026
AST Bond Portfolio 2027
AST Bond Portfolio 2028
AST Bond Portfolio 2029
AST Bond Portfolio 2030
AST Cohen & Steers Global Realty Portfolio
AST Cohen & Steers Realty Portfolio
AST Goldman SachsSmall-Cap Value Portfolio
AST Government Money Market Portfolio
AST High Yield Portfolio
AST Hotchkis & WileyLarge-Cap Value Portfolio
AST International Growth Portfolio
AST International Value Portfolio
AST Investment Grade Bond Portfolio
AST J.P. Morgan International Equity Portfolio
AST JennisonLarge-Cap Growth Portfolio
AST Loomis SaylesLarge-Cap Growth Portfolio
AST MFS Global Equity Portfolio
AST MFS Growth Portfolio
AST MFSLarge-Cap Value Portfolio
ASTMid-Cap Growth Portfolio
AST Multi-Sector Fixed Income Portfolio
AST Neuberger Berman/LSVMid-Cap Value Portfolio
AST Parametric Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio
AST Prudential Core Bond Portfolio
AST QMALarge-Cap Portfolio
AST QMA U.S. Equity Alpha Portfolio
AST Quantitative Modeling Portfolio
ASTSmall-Cap Growth Opportunities Portfolio
ASTSmall-Cap Growth Portfolio
ASTSmall-Cap Value Portfolio
AST T. Rowe PriceLarge-Cap Growth Portfolio
AST T. Rowe PriceLarge-Cap Value Portfolio
AST T. Rowe Price Natural Resources Portfolio
AST Templeton Global Bond Portfolio
AST WEDGE CapitalMid-Cap Value Portfolio
AST Wellington Management Hedged Equity Portfolio
AST Western Asset Core Plus Bond Portfolio
AST Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Portfolio
February 28, 2020
Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, D.C. 20549
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We were previously principal accountants for the Advanced Series Trust Portfolios included in Appendix A, and under the dates included in Appendix A, we reported on the financial statements of the Advanced Series Trust Portfolios as of and for the years ended included in Appendix A. On January 25, 2020, we were dismissed as independent registered public accountant effective upon completion of the audits and the issuance of our reports thereon included in Appendix A.
We have read the statements made by the Advanced Series Trust included under Item 13(a)(4) of FormN-CSR dated February 28, 2020, and we agree with such statements except that we are not in a position to agree or disagree with the statements that (1) the Audit Committee and the Advanced Series Trust’s Board of Trustees approved the engagement of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) to serve as the independent registered public accounting firm, and (2) neither the Advanced Series Trust nor the Portfolios, nor anyone on their behalf, consulted with PwC on items which: (i) concerned the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on the Portfolios’ financial statements; or (ii) concerned the subject of a disagreement or reportable events.
Very truly yours,
KPMG LLP
Advanced Series Trust
February 28, 2020
Page 2 of 4
Appendix A
Portfolio
| Audit Opinion Date
| Years Ended
| ||
AST AQR Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2020
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2021
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2022
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2023
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2024
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2025
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2026
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2027
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2028
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2029
| February 14, 2020
| Year ended December 31, 2019 and the period from January 2, 2018 (commencement of operations) through December 31, 2018
| ||
AST Bond Portfolio 2030
| February 14, 2020
| Period from January 2, 2019 (commencement of operations) through December 31, 2019
| ||
AST Cohen & Steers Global Realty Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Cohen & Steers Realty Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Goldman SachsSmall-Cap Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Government Money Market Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST High Yield Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
|
Advanced Series Trust
February 28, 2020
Page 3 of 4
AST Hotchkis & WileyLarge-Cap Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST International Growth Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST International Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Investment Grade Bond Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST J.P. Morgan International Equity Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST JennisonLarge-Cap Growth Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Loomis SaylesLarge-Cap Growth Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST MFS Global Equity Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST MFS Growth Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST MFSLarge-Cap Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
ASTMid-Cap Growth Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Multi-Sector Fixed Income Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Neuberger Berman/LSVMid-Cap Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Parametric Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Prudential Core Bond Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST QMALarge-Cap Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST QMA U.S. Equity Alpha Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Quantitative Modeling Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
ASTSmall-Cap Growth Opportunities Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
|
Advanced Series Trust
February 28, 2020
Page 4 of 4
ASTSmall-Cap Growth Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
ASTSmall-Cap Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST T. Rowe PriceLarge-Cap Growth Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST T. Rowe PriceLarge-Cap Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST T. Rowe Price Natural Resources Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Templeton Global Bond Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST WEDGE CapitalMid-Cap Value Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Wellington Management Hedged Equity Portfolio
| February 12, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Western Asset Core Plus Bond Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
| ||
AST Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Portfolio
| February 14, 2020
| Years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
|