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*. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	17-F-0315
&
Office of Inspector General
July 10, 2017
At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
The Pesticide Registration
Improvement Act (PRIA)
requires that we perform an
annual audit of the Pesticide
Registration Fund (known as
the PRIA Fund) financial
statements.
To expedite the registration
of certain pesticides,
Congress authorized the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to assess and
collect pesticide registration
fees. The fees collected are
deposited into the PRIA Fund.
The agency is required to
prepare financial statements
that present financial
information about the PRIA
Fund. PRIA also requires the
establishment of decision time
review periods for pesticide
registration actions, and
requires the Office of Inspector
General to perform an analysis
of the agency's compliance
with those review periods.
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 Pesticide Registration Fund
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
visit www.epa.gov/oiq.
Listing of OIG reports.
Disclaimer of Opinion
We rendered a disclaimer of opinion on
the PRIA 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 PRIA 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 PRIA 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 PRIA Fund or other pesticide programs. This resulted
in the loss of the audit trail for reporting separate costs and liabilities for the PRIA
Fund and other pesticide programs. The EPA has taken corrective actions based
on what we found during our prior PRIA Fund financial statements audit report;
accordingly, we are making no additional recommendations on this issue. 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
The EPA did not meet the minimum requirement for funding worker protection
activities in FY 2015. The EPA used approximately $480,000 for worker
protection activities in FY 2015. However, the Pesticide Registration
Improvement Extension Act of 2012 (PRIA 3) requires the EPA to use
approximately 1/17 of the amount in the PRIA Fund, but not less than $1 million,
to enhance scientific and regulatory activities relating to worker protection per
year. As a result, the EPA did not meet the statutory target set out by PRIA 3 of
at least $1 million.
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and
Pollution Prevention develop an adequate plan for funding worker protection
activities that would require that the minimum target of $1 million set out by
PRIA 3 is met. The EPA agreed with our finding and recommendation. The
recommendation has been resolved with corrective actions pending.

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