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*. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	17-F-0314

Office of Inspector General
July 10, 2017
At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
The Food Quality Protection
Act requires that we perform an
annual audit of the financial
statements for the Pesticides
Reregistration and Expedited
Processing Fund, known as the
FIFRA (Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act) Fund.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) is
responsible for reassessing the
safety of older pesticide
registrations against modern
health and environmental
testing standards. To expedite
this reregistration process,
Congress authorized the EPA
to collect fees from pesticide
manufacturers. The fees are
deposited into the FIFRA Fund.
Each year, the agency
prepares financial statements
that present financial
information about the fund,
along with information about
the EPA's progress in
reregistering pesticides.
This report addresses the
following EPA goal or
cross-agency strategy:
• Embracing EPA as a high-
performing organization.
Fiscal Years 2015 and 2014 Financial
Statements for the Pesticides Reregistration
and Expedited Processing Fund
Disclaimer of Opinion
We rendered a disclaimer of opinion on
the FIFRA Fund financial statements for
fiscal years (FYs) 2015 and 2014,
meaning that we were unable to obtain
sufficient evidence to determine if they
were fairly presented and free of material
misstatement.
Due to the material weakness in
internal controls noted, the agency
cannot provide reasonable
assurance that financial data
provided for the FIFRA Fund
accurately reflect the agency's
financial activities and balances.
Internal Control Material Weakness Noted
We noted a material weakness in that the EPA cannot adequately support its
FY 2015 FIFRA Fund costs. The EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs receives its
funding from both fees paid by pesticide manufacturers and amounts
appropriated by Congress. In FY 2015, the EPA allocated its pesticide funding to
use appropriated amounts, which would expire, and retained funding received
from fees. Therefore, significant payroll amounts paid from appropriations were
not charged directly to the FIFRA Fund or other pesticide programs. This resulted
in the loss of the audit trail for reporting separate costs and liabilities for the
FIFRA Fund and other pesticide programs.
The EPA has taken corrective actions based on what we found during our prior
FIFRA Fund financial statements audit report; accordingly, we are making
no additional recommendations. In October 2016, the agency implemented a new
enhancement for transactions that will commence in FY 2017. However, this
does not impact or correct the material weakness for the FY 2015 statements,
nor the disclaimer of opinion.
Compliance With Applicable Laws and Regulations
We did not identify any noncompliance that would result in a material
misstatement to the audited financial statements.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
visit www.epa.gov/oiq.
Listing of OIG reports.

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