Independent Audit Advisory Committee Holds Forty-second Session at Headquarters, 25-27 April

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its forty‑second session from 25‑27 April at the 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 Committee, namely:  Patricia X. Arriagada Villouta (Vice‑Chair), Natalia A. Bocharova, Richard Quartei Quartey and Janet St. Laurent, were in attendance.

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

1. Jan Beagle, Under‑Secretary‑General for Management, on: (i) the status of the implementation of recommendations of oversight bodies; and (ii) the status of the Secretary‑General’s reform initiatives, including the global service delivery model.
2. Atul Khare, Under‑Secretary‑General for Field Support, on: (i) the usefulness/effectiveness of oversight bodies recommendations; (ii) the implications of the Secretary‑General’s reform initiatives on his work; and (iii) other matters of interest to the Committee.
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) the implementation of enterprise risk management; (iii) the operationalization of guidelines and protocols in OIOS; (iv) the peer review mechanism of OIOS; (v) performance versus compliance auditing; (vi) the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and (vii) assessing the organizational culture of the Secretariat.
4. Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas, Assistant Secretary‑General, Controller, on:(i) the status of the Secretary‑General’s reform initiatives, including the implications on the work of the Controller; (ii) strengthening of the internal control system of the Organization; and (iii) the operational implications of any issues and trends apparent in the financial statements of the Organization.
5. Elia Armstrong, Director, Ethics Office, on: (i) the strengthening of the oversight function of the Secretariat; (ii) the financial disclosure regime; (iii) the status of the whistle‑blower policy in the Secretariat; and (iv) the implications of the Secretary‑General’s reform initiatives on the work of the Director.

The next (forty‑third) session of the Committee is scheduled for 18‑20 July at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

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