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Agencies
- Department of Agriculture
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- Department of Energy
- Environmental Protection Agency
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- Army Corps of Engineers
- General Services Administration
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Personnel Management
- Small Business Administration
- Social Security Administration
- U.S. Agency for International Development
Agency Snapshot:
Environmental Protection Agency The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mission is to protect human health and the environment. The agency’s $8.7 billion budget is used for cleaning up communities, ensuring the safety of chemicals and preventing pollution, enforcing environmental laws, protecting America’s waters, and taking action on climate change and improving air quality.
Like other agencies, EPA is committed to pursuing its mission while managing finances effectively. This includes ensuring financial information and payments are accurate and using only needed property.
Audit Opinions
An audit opinion provides the public with an independent, third-party assessment as to whether the agency’s financial information is presented fairly. There are four types of audit opinions: Unqualified (clean), Qualified, Disclaimer, and Adverse. An unqualified audit opinion means that the auditor believes the financial information presented by the agency is fairly presented – which is our goal for all agencies. Qualified, Disclaimer or Adverse opinions indicate that financial reporting issues have been identified or the auditor could not render an opinion. EPA has a long track record earning clean audit opinions, reflecting a commitment to strong financial management. The metric here shows the audit opinions on the Agency’s consolidated financial statements received by EPA since 2000.
| FY | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean | Clean |
Financial Material Weaknesses Found in Audit Reports
In addition to rendering an overall opinion, auditors can cite major problems, or material weaknesses, in their reports that accompany the audited statements. Although material weaknesses vary, the more material weaknesses an agency has, the more likely the agency could have a significant misstatement in their financial information. Agencies are working hard to eliminate any material weaknesses in an effort to improve financial management. The metric here shows the number of material weaknesses in the last five fiscal years for the agency. While EPA generally does not have financial material weaknesses, the Agency had three in FY 2009. However, the Agency resolved these issues. More information is available in this report.
