The Secretariat collected the information on audit committees during 2004.

During the reporting period, the UNHCR Audit Service issued a total of 31 final Audit Reports (listed in Annex 1).

The Board will review the compensating measures during its next audit.

The Secretariat provided their comments, which were verified during the interim audit.

The UNFPA internal audit will review and verify the data during the third quarter of 2005.

My team had identified the lack of a formal, comprehensive fraud prevention strategy during the previous audit.

During the period, the UNHCR Audit Service issued 138 recommendations, of which 70 were classified as critical.

(b) Conference services, administration and oversight (regular budget extrabudgetary) produce up to 400 audit reports for programme managers during the biennium review compliance by departments and offices with audit recommendations.

During April September 2004, the Office of Internal Oversight Services conducted an audit review of the Galaxy system.

The Board will confirm the implementation of the strategy and the effectiveness of the measures contained therein during its next audit visit.

Concerning internal audit coverage during the biennium 2006 2007, no arrangements had been made for 2007, while continuing audit coverage, particularly of the claims payment process, may still be required at least until the end of 2007.

Audit objections, to these or any other transactions, arising during the examination of the accounts shall be communicated immediately to the Registrar.

All the banks have undergone at least one complete audit by the Central Bank and a few specific inspections during the last two years.

The Committee was further informed that an audit of the Institute's operations, including programme management, financial management, use of consultants and follow up actions on previous audit recommendations, had been conducted by the Board of Auditors during the period from 29 August to 9 September 2005 and the findings of that audit had not yet been received.

Building on the work already started by the UNHCR Audit Service, the project will start during the summer with a series of interviews and workshops.

Mr. Park Yoon June (Republic of Korea) commended the Board for the long hours it had spent preparing the reports during the 2002 2003 audit cycle.

Accordingly, I wish to record my appreciation for the co operation and assistance extended by the Director General and the staff of the organisation during my audit.

The UNHCR Audit Service, in close cooperation with the UNHCR Audit Coordinator in the Controller's Office, vigorously follows up on outstanding audit recommendations.

The Audit Services Branch will update the checklist for the 2005 audit exercise.

The Board will monitor the impact of the directive on the financial status of UNOPS during the final audit visit to be conducted for the 2004 2005 biennium.

We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for the audit opinion.

Audit the Fed?

At the present time, audit assignments are shared among the audit staff provided from the audit services of the members of the Board on an equal basis.

However, the Board recognizes the concerns expressed regarding the impact on system performance and will therefore follow up this matter during its next audit of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS.

The call for the 2004 audit of nationally executed projects emphasized the requirements for the audit.

The Board noted, during its May 2005 interim audit, that while the recruitment processing time at UNRWA might have improved, numerous vacancies had existed for more than six months.

The working group fully supported the resources requested for external audit ( 479,900) and internal audit ( 1,240,700).

The regularity audit will be taken forward through a pre final audit in the last quarter of 2005 and a final audit after the closure of the financial period.

Audit opinion

Audit process

Audit opinion

External audit

Internal audit

Audit costs

Audit Division

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.

Internal audit is conducted by a dedicated UNHCR Audit Service, which forms part of Internal Audit Division II that is headquartered at Geneva.

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.

One D 1 post would be redeployed from Internal Audit in New York to Internal Audit in Geneva to strengthen audit operations handled from the Geneva office.

These include the implementation of a web based audit recommendation tracking dashboard (http audit dashboard.undp.org) to manage corporate audit issues, and the establishment of a quality assurance function within the Bureau of Management (BOM) to analyze systemic issues arising from audit observations.

(d) Enhancement of the external audit functions of the Fund and expansion of the Fund's internal audit coverage

To ensure an effective internal audit mechanism, the Coordination Council has adopted a Charter for Internal Audit.

During the audit, it was discovered that some of the purchase orders chosen as examples of lead time anomalies did not actually exceed the guidelines based on some interpretations of system dates.

Internal audit ratings

So we audit.