Independent Audit Advisory Committee Holds Thirty-Ninth Session at New York Headquarters, 24-26 July

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its thirty-ninth session from 24 to 26 July 2017 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  The session was presided over by the Chair, Maria Gracia M. Pulido Tan.  All the other members of the IAAC — J. Christopher Mihm (Vice-Chair), Patricia X. Arriagada Villouta, Natalia A. Bocharova and Richard Quartei Quartey — were in attendance.

The IAAC’s deliberations included the finalization of the Committees’ annual report for the period 1 August 2016 to 31 July 2017.

In addition, the IAAC held meetings with:

1. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Chef de Cabinet, on behalf of the Secretary-General, to update her on the work of the Committee and on matters of mutual interest.
2. The Board of Auditors, on:  (i) trends apparent in the financial statements; (ii) managing the risk of fraud in the Organization; and (iii) opportunities to examine the Organization’s efforts to support the 2030 Agenda.
3. Heidi Mendoza, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), and senior managers regarding a wide range of matters, including:  (i) the status of vacant posts; (ii) strengthening the investigation function, including the status of the central intake mechanism for investigation cases in the Secretariat; (iii) the peer review mechanisms of OIOS; (iv) measuring the impact of the work of OIOS; (v) the funding arrangements of OIOS; and (vi) the implementation of enterprise risk management of OIOS.
4. Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas, Assistant Secretary-General, Controller, on:  (i) the management of risks to the extrabudgetary funding of the United Nations; (ii) lessons learned from the implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS); (iii) the operational challenges in financial areas with respect to the future roll-out of the financial module in Umoja; (iv) fraud prevention and detection, and the interlinkages with the statement on internal control; and (vi) the operational implications of any issues and trends apparent in the financial statements of the Organization.
5. Christian Saunder, Director, Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Management, on:  (i) the status of the implementation of recommendations of oversight bodies; (ii) the OIOS audit report rating system; (iii) progress in the implementation of the anti-fraud risk assessment in the Secretariat; and (iv) the organizational transformative projects, including Umoja and the global service delivery model.

The next (fortieth) session of the IAAC is scheduled for 12 to 15 December 2017 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

For further information on the work of the IAAC, please see the Committee’s website at:  www.un.org/ga/iaac or contact the Committee’s Executive Secretary, Moses Bamuwamye, at email:  bamuwamye@un.org; tel.:  +1 212 963 0788.