Independent Audit Advisory Committee Holds Sixtieth Session, 6-9 December

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its sixtieth session from 6-9 December.  Meetings were held via the hybrid mode.  The session was presided over by the Chair, Janet St. Laurent.  All the other members of the Committee, namely:  Agus Pramono (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko, and Imran Vanker, were in attendance.

The Committee’s sixtieth session was highlighted by the successful seventh meeting of the representatives of the United Nations system oversight committees.  The meeting, which was opened by Catherine Pollard, Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance on behalf of the Secretary-General, was attended by Chairs and/or other high-level representatives of 23 United Nations system entities[*].  The meeting saw a robust exchange of information on best practices and lessons learned.  The Committee expressed deep gratitude to its colleagues for their active and engaged participation and looks forward to working with each of them.

In addition, the Committee held meetings with:

1. Fatoumata Ndiaye, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, and with senior managers regarding a wide range of matters, including:  (i) the status of vacant posts; (ii) utilization of the OIOS peacekeeping budget; (iii) the status of the peacekeeping workplan implementation; (iv) the budget proposal under the support account for peacekeeping operations for 2023/2024; and (v) the workplan and capacity gap analysis for Internal Audit Division, Inspection and Evaluation Division and Investigation Division.  The Committee also discussed the recently concluded independent evaluation of the Investigation Division of OIOS.

2. Chandramouli Ramanathan, Assistant Secretary-General, Controller on: (i) the peacekeeping budget of OIOS for 2023/24;  (ii) the status update on the Statement of Internal Control; (iii) the status of the Capital investment plan of the Organization; and (iv) the financial situation.

3. Christophe Monier, on behalf of the Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, on:  (i) the status of the implementation of oversight bodies’ recommendations; and (ii) the status of the accountability system of the Organization; and (iii) update on the enterprise risk management.

The IAAC also unanimously elected Imran Vanker as Chair and Janet St. Laurent as Vice-Chair for the following year, starting 1 January 2023.

The next (sixty-first) session of IAAC is scheduled for 15-17 February 2023 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

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

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[*] FAO, ICAO, IFAD, ILO, IOM, ITU, PAHO, UN, UN-Women, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNJSPF, UNIDO, UNOPS, UNRWA, UPU, WFP, WHO, WIPO and WMO.