< j- vyy T vI7 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General At a Glance 11-1-0157 March 10, 2011 Why We Did This Audit 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. Background 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. Catalyst for Improving the Environment Fiscal Year 2010 and 2009 Financial Statements for the Pesticide Registration Fund Opinion We rendered an unqualified, or clean, opinion on EPA's Pesticide Registration Fund financial statements for fiscal years 2010 and 2009, meaning that they were fairly presented and free of material misstatement. Internal Control Significant Deficiency Noted We noted one significant deficiency in internal controls. EPA misapplied federal retirement benefit cost factors in calculating fiscal year 2010 imputed cost related to the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System. Imputed costs are costs that are not fully reimbursed. This significant deficiency resulted in an understatement of $120,422. The Agency has corrected fiscal year 2010 imputed costs in the PRIA Fund financial statements. Compliance with Decision Time Review Periods The Agency was in substantial compliance with the statutory decision time frames. Agency Comments and Office of Inspector General Evaluation The Office of the Chief Financial Officer and the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention concurred with our general conclusions that the financial statements are fairly presented and free of material misstatements. For further information, contact our Office of Congressional, Public Affairs and Management at (202) 566-2391. The full report is at: www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2011/ 20110310-11-1-0157.pdf ------- |