Independent Audit Advisory Committee Holds Thirty-Fourth Session at United Nations Headquarters, 4-6 May

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its thirty-fourth session from 4 to 6 May at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  The session was presided over by the Chair, J. Christopher Mihm.  All the other members of the IAAC, namely Maria Gracia M. Pulido Tan (Vice-Chair), Patricia X. Arriagada Villouta, Natalia A. Bocharova and Richard Quartei Quartey, were in attendance.

The IAAC’s deliberations included meetings with, inter alia:

1. Yukio Takasu, Under-Secretary-General for Management, on (i) implementing a central intake mechanism for investigation cases in the Secretariat; (ii) the implementation of anti-fraud policies in the Secretariat; (iii) the status of the implementation of recommendations of oversight bodies; and (iv) the decisions of the General Assembly with respect to the fifth progress report on the accountability system.
2. Heidi Mendoza, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, regarding a wide range of matters, including: (i) the Under-Secretary-General’s strategic vision for the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) during the next five years; (ii) the status of vacant posts; (iii) the investigation function in the context of having a central intake mechanism; (iv) the audit recommendation tracking system; and (v) the status of the internal control environment, especially as it relates to fraud prevention and detection.
3. Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, on managing the enterprise risk of relying heavily on extrabudgetary funding.
4. Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas, Controller, on the enterprise risk concerning extrabudgetary funding and management, and fraud prevention and detection.
5. Chandramouli Ramanathan, Officer-in-Charge, Umoja, on the status of the project and the lessons learned.

The next (thirty-fifth) session of the IAAC is scheduled for 25-27 July at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

For further information on the work of the IAAC, please contact the Committee’s Executive Secretary, Moses Bamuwamye, at e-mail:  bamuwamye@un.org, tel.:  +1 212 963 0788, or fax:  +1 212 963 0600.