Panel of External Auditors Holds Fifty-Ninth Meeting at United Nations Headquarters, 3-4 December
The fifty-ninth meeting of the Panel of External Auditors, chaired by Amyas Morse, Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom, was held from 3 to 4 December at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Panel consists of the Heads of 11 Supreme Audit Institutions who are either elected or selected to conduct the external audit of the United Nations Secretariat, funds and programmes and specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The meeting was attended by representatives from Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ghana, Philippines, Switzerland, United Kingdom and, as an observer, the United Republic of Tanzania.
External auditors are independent of the United Nations and conduct the audits on the financial statements and managerial and performance audits. The United Nations Panel of External Auditors is a unique forum for the exchange of information and methodologies to further develop and improve the value and quality of the external assurance process. The Panel seeks to support the delivery of high-quality, standards-based assurance, to ensure that reported financial information provides a transparent and accurate basis for the financial decisions made by the United Nations, its specialized agencies and IAEA. The Panel’s Technical Group also met from 28 to 30 November to discuss technical matters and prepare the discussions for their Principals on 3-4 December.
The Panel discussed matters such as the Secretary-General’s reform agenda, International Public-Sector Accounting Standards and International Standards on Auditing, the audit of the Sustainable Development Goals, fraud detection and fraud reporting within international organizations, conflict of interest, enterprise risk management, cyber security and related audit risks.
The Panel also met with Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Jan Beagle, Atul Khare and Jens Wandel to discuss the Secretary-General’s reform agenda and to brief them on important issues identified by the Panel.
More details on the Panel’s working are available at its website (http://www.un.org/en/auditors/panel/).