Audits should be conducted by an independent body.

(e) Regularity and extent of audit by an independent body

Comment by the Administration. The audits of Treasury and the relevant specialist areas have been included in the 2005 audit plan of the Internal Audit Section of the Office of Audit and Performance Reviews.

Assists OAPR in identifying systemic trends and emerging corporate issues based on the results of the country office audit Assists the respective business divisions and content experts in understanding the root causes of compliance issues as reported by the internal and external audit team.

Comment by the Administration. The standard time frame for the issuance of audit reports is to be examined as part of the review of its audit procedures.

The Director of the Office of Audit and Performance Review has been made directly responsible for ensuring that this is done, thus strengthening the review of audit reports on nationally executed expenditure.

The Panel has received no audited financial statements from FDA.

Comment by the Administration. The audits of headquarter units have been postponed in 2004 and were included in the strategy and workplan of the Office of Audit and Performance Review for 2005.

Also, the Office of Audit and Performance Review has been reviewing its audit planning methodology with a view to adopting a more formal risk based approach.

It is also devising programmes to build capacity of developing countries' audit institutions to engage civil society in auditing performance related to service delivery.

Comment by the Administration. The Office of Audit and Performance Review of UNDP continues to follow up this matter to ensure that, for every project, either an audit is arranged or satisfactory reasons are provided for its exclusion.

(Signed) Guillermo Carague Chairman, Philippine Commission on Audit and Chairman, United Nations Board of Auditors

Prior membership of an audit committee of a private corporation or public sector body

At the operational level, the Office of Audit and Performance Review has already started adopting a preliminary risk based audit planning methodology with the purpose of improving the country office audit coverage (para.

In the present case, by contrast, the authors applied to, and then withdrew, their case from the first independent review instance competent to address their case, the RRT.

Comment by the Administration. An independent company commissioned by the Office of Audit and Performance Review has been reviewing controls and risks following the implementation of Atlas.

Noting that the United Nations Board of Auditors is independent and is solely responsible for the conduct of its audits.

OAPR conducted a full review and assessed that due diligence has been performed and compliance with the financial regulations and rules.

(Signed) Guillermo N. Carague Chairman, Commission on Audit, Republic of the Philippines Chairman, United Nations Board of Auditors (Lead Auditor)

Comment by the Administration. The Office of Audit and Performance Review is discussing with the developer upgrading of the comprehensive audit recommendation database system to extend it to country offices and project staff.

Meanwhile, consumers who held a substantial fraction of their wealth in housing were forced to revise their consumption plans in the face of declining values.

The Office of Audit and Performance Review will continue to expedite the filling of vacancies in the Office (para. 419), align resource levels according to audit risk assessments (para. 423) and plan and implement the audit of headquarters offices (para.

As has been described in section III of this report, the Secretariat initiated a review of audit committees in order to establish a similar body at the United Nations.

Comment by the Administration. The Office of Audit and Performance Review has incorporated procedures in its country office audit guide to ensure that audit clauses are included in all project agreements.

A management organization would assume authority and (a) audit the concessionaires (b) audit FDA (c) collect revenues and pay taxes to the Central Bank and (d) complete reporting (in part to facilitate oversight by civil society).

Compliance by country offices with national execution and non governmental organization audit requirements is reflected in the annual performance evaluation of UNFPA Representatives.

Summary of audited activities and audit reports

West Virginia Legislative Auditor's Office Performance Evaluation and Research Division This example of a state governmental's performance auditing office includes links to several detailed reports which include methodology, evaluations results, recommendations and action plans.

(a) Reviewing the strategy and workplans of internal and, in some organizations, external audit and discussing the scope and content of their audits so as to identify audit priorities and suggesting potential audit areas within which to address the organization's risks

Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts Performance Audits Operations Division Includes links to recently published reports of the state's performance auditing division with findings and recommendations on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of state programs.

As clarified with the Board, 2005 was the first year that the Office of Audit and Performance Review implemented the new requirement for auditors of nationally executed expenditure to provide quantitative assessment of the financial impact of audit opinions.

Audit process

Scope of audit

Review and reform of the law

External audit

Internal audit

Audit costs

The financial statements, which are included in the Interim Report of the External Auditor, Financial Performance Report and Programme Performance Report for the Biennium 2004 2005, have not been audited and no audit opinion is expressed thereon.

The Terms of Reference of the IRM specify that each review phase is composed of two review cycles of five years.

b. Parliamentary documentation audit reports on the basis of audits conducted (8)

UNICEF continued to strengthen the alignment of audit criteria to organizational performance, including the development of guidelines for information technology management, quality assessment of country office annual reports and auditing of UNICEF involvement in United Nations common services.

Performance measures

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Strategic Guidelines