Independent Audit Advisory Committee Holds Sixty-Ninth Session, 17-19 February

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its sixty-ninth session from 17 to 19 February at United Nations Headquarters in New York and was presided over by the Chair, Anton Kosyanenko.  All the other members of the Committee — namely, Suresh Sharma, Vice-Chair; Dorothy Bradley; and Jeanette Franzel — were in attendance.

During the session, the Independent Audit Advisory Committee held meetings with:

1. Fatoumata Ndiaye, Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and senior officers on:  (i) the final programme budget proposal under the support account for peacekeeping operations for the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026; (ii) the main highlights of OIOS 2026 programme budget proposal, including risk coverage; (iii) impact of changes in peacekeeping operations on programme delivery of OIOS; and (iv) feedback on the ongoing external quality assessments.

2. Chandramouli Ramanathan, Assistant Secretary-General, Controller, on:  (i) the support account for the peacekeeping budget of OIOS for 2025/26; (ii) highlights of the 2026 programme budget proposal; (iii) updates on the major decision and outcomes of the main part of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly; and (iv) risk management including the financial situation.

3. Lisa Buttenheim, Assistant Secretary-General for the United Nations Department of Operational Support, on:  (i) Enterprise Risk Management, including the risk treatment plan for all the critical areas under the Department of Operational Support’s purview; and (ii) implementation of the recommendations of the oversight bodies.

4. Karen Lock, Director, Department of Management, Strategy, Policy and Compliance — Business Transformation and Accountability Division, on:  (i) progress in implementing the recommendations of the UN Oversight Advisory Committee Network from 2023; (ii) the status of the implementation of recommendations contained in the most recent reports of oversight bodies; (iii) the status of the progress in embedding Enterprise Risk Management with other processes; and (iv) the main highlights in the Board of Auditors recent report A/79/5 Vol II.

5. The Audit Operations Committee of the Board of Auditors on:  i) the salient issues the Board of Auditors found in the peacekeeping report A/79/5 Vol. II.; (ii) the Board’s view on the status of Enterprise Risk Management in the Organization, and emerging risks as it pertains to peacekeeping operations; (iii) the Board’s view on the status of implementation by management of the Board’s recommendation; and (iv) trends in the reporting of fraud and presumptive fraud.

The seventieth session of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee is scheduled for 14-16 April in Addis Ababa.

For further information on the work of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee, 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.