Independent Audit Advisory Committee Holds Its Sixty-First Session, 15-17 February

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its sixty-first session from 15 to 17 February, via hybrid format.  The session was presided over by its Chair, Imran Vanker.  All the other members of the Committee — namely Janet St. Laurent (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko and the newly appointed member from Nepal, Suresh Sharma — were in attendance.

The Committee’s sixty-first session saw a robust exchange of information on best practices and deliberations on the Support Account and Regular budget proposals of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

In addition, the Committee’s deliberations also included meetings with, inter alia:

1. Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support, on matters of interest to the Committee, including the status of implementation of oversight bodies’ recommendations, risk management and other matters of importance or high risk, such as the Department’s dealings with service providers;
2. Fatoumata Ndiaye, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, and senior managers regarding a wide range of matters, including:  (i) the status of vacant posts; (ii) utilization of the peacekeeping budget; (iii) the status of the peacekeeping workplan implementation; (iv) the budget proposal under the support account for peacekeeping operations for 2023/2024;  (v) the workplan and capacity gap analysis for Internal Audit Division, Inspection and Evaluation Division and Investigation Division; (vi) highlights of the OIOS 2024 programme budget proposal; and (vii) updates on the status of the External Quality Assessments;
3. Chandramouli Ramanathan, Assistant Secretary-General, Controller on:  (i) the peacekeeping budget of OIOS for 2023/24; (ii) highlights of the OIOS 2024 programme budget proposal; (iii) updates on the major decision and outcomes of the main part of the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly; and (iv) the financial situation;
4. Bernardo Mariano, Jr., Chief Information Technology Officer, on:  (i) issues pertaining to cybersecurity, and how the issue is being handled in the context of the ICT Network of HLCM; (ii) status of the Secretary-General’s Data Strategy; and (iii) update on other issues of high risk or concern to bring to the attention of the Committee, including the engagement with service providers.

The next (sixty-second) session of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee is scheduled for May, at the headquarters of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in Beirut, Lebanon.

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