United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee Holds Fifth Session

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, serving in an expert advisory capacity to assist the Assembly in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities.  The IAAC held its fifth session in New York from 17 to 19 February 2009.

During this session, all IAAC members were present and the session was presided over by the Chairman, David M. Walker.  The summary record of proceedings of the IAAC’s fourth session held from 1 to 3 December 2008 was adopted.

The IAAC’s agenda for the fifth session included meetings with:

-- The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions ‑- to discuss the IAAC’s comments on the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) budget under the support account for peacekeeping operations for the period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010.

-- The Under-Secretary-General for Management ‑- follow-up on the status of various issues of interest to the IAAC, including the enterprise risk management and the accountability framework, and the implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), and the planned task force on investigations.

-- The Under-Secretary-General and other representatives of OIOS on the implementation of 2008 work plans of all divisions in OIOS, main elements of the budget for 2010/11; staffing and vacancies, and the status of integration of the work of the Procurement Task Force into the Investigations Division of OIOS.

The IAAC also discussed the response to their recently launched website (www.un.org/ga/iaac/) and finalized the approach and a plan of work for its review of the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of OIOS functions.  The results of this review will be reported to the General Assembly and will serve as an input into the Assembly’s review of the OIOS mandate, scheduled for discussion in the sixty-fourth session.

The IAAC also agreed to issue a special report to the General Assembly regarding their comments as to the number of vacancies within OIOS staff and the need to move expeditiously to fill these vacancies, especially the position of Director of Investigations.

The next (sixth) session of the IAAC is planned for 13-15 April 2009.

For further information on the work of the Committee, please contact the Committee’s Executive Secretary, Uren Pillay at e-mail:  pillay@un.org, telephone:  1 212 963 5674, fax:  1 212 963 0600.

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For information media • not an official record