UNITED NATIONS INDEPENDENT AUDIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE HOLDS FIRST MEETING

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations, established as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly to serve in an expert advisory capacity and to assist the General Assembly in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities, started its first session in New York yesterday.  The session, which runs until 22 February, is a closed one.

Members of the Committee are appointed in their personal capacity and are independent of the Government that nominated them.  The Committee is also independent of the Board of Auditors, the Joint Inspection Unit and the United Nations Secretariat.  The Committee comprises an exceptional group of senior level experts with financial, audit and/or other oversight-related activities.  The Committee will be responsible for advising the General Assembly on the scope, results and effectiveness of audit and other oversight functions, especially the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS); on measures to ensure management’s compliance with audit and other oversight recommendations; and on various risk management, internal control, operational and accounting and disclosure issues.

Based on the recommendations of the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) and with due regard being paid to equitable geographic representation, in November 2007, the Assembly elected five members (General Assembly decision 62/413, 15 November 2007), three of whom will serve a three-year term of office and two of whom will serve a four-year term of office, all beginning on 1 January 2008.

The three-year appointees are Vadim Vadimovich Dubinkin, Head of the Summary Audit Department, Accounts Chamber, Russian Federation; Vijayendra Nath Kaul, former Comptroller and Auditor-General of India; and Adrian Patrick Strachan, Auditor-General of Jamaica.

The four-year appointees are John F.S. Muwanga, Auditor-General of Uganda, and David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States.

As the Committee’s first official act, it elected David M. Walker of the United States and Vijayendra N. Kaul of India to serve as Chairman and Vice-Chairman, respectively, for a one year renewable term.

During the initial session, the Committee plans to establish its rules of procedure that will guide the way the Committee will operate in the future.  The Committee will discuss various current and pending United Nations issues in order to establish its priorities and approve a plan of activities for 2008, including dates for subsequent sessions.  The Committee is authorized to meet up to four times per year.

During its three-day meeting, Committee members will meet with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, a range of other senior officials of the United Nations Secretariat, representatives of Member States and other interested parties, including Paul Volcker.

For further information on the work of the Committee, please contact Hazelien Featherstone at e-mail: featherstoneh@un.org, telephone: +1 917 367 2851.

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For information media • not an official record