1. JOINT UNITED NATIONS ACTIVITIES Internal Audit & Investigation
UNDG Donor Meeting
New-York, 18 November 2014

2. Before the MDTF on EBOLA
The last 10 years saw a surge in Joint UN Activities – from a few… to roughly USD 1.6 bn for 2013
Before the MDTF on EBOLA
18 Nov 2014

3. Joint Internal Audits
18 Nov 2014

4. The UN Representatives of Internal Audit Services (UN-RIAS) held its 8th meeting in September
Purpose:
Strengthening internal auditing practices and professionalism by providing a forum for development of methodologies and their related innovation, promoting and supporting independence, collaboration and common positions of its members to add value to their organizations
Adopting common positions and providing, as necessary, information and advice to other UN bodies (such as the CEB, HLCM, UNDG) on audit-related matters
Coordinating and harmonizing internal audit activities and processes between UN-RIAS members where necessary
Developing appropriate audit responses to Delivering as One and other joint UN activities, and promoting joint audit activities among those organizations concerned
Sharing of good practices
Who: All UN system organizations with internal audit services
18 Nov 2014

5. Expectations of assurance rise – so does complexity
To be thought through at the onset
On what?
Financial reporting  financial audit
Governance, risk management and internal control processes  internal audit
To whom? Steering Committee? Organizations?
When? How often?
Not for free  include funding in Joint Activity budget
Complexity
Different “shape and form” of Joint Activities; complex funding mechanisms
Involvement of multiple organizations with different processes, ERP systems, procedures; different structures and cultures
Different risk perspectives of Joint Activities than considered at organization level
Joint Programming Guidelines: including a chapter on audit

6. Joint internal audits of Joint Activities are challenging
Risk-based audit approach
What is the “joint audit universe”?
What is its risk profile? How does the whole compares to the pieces in each organization?
What are the resources available to audit? Jointly ? Individually ?
When undertaking an audit:
Deciding on joint teams, or coordinated audits by separate teams?
Coordinating timing and team composition , in the context of organization-specific audit activities
The “Framework for Joint Internal Audits of Joint UN Activities”
The way for UN-RIAS members to approach joint internal audits
Replaces the three previous frameworks (MDTF/ 2007; Joint Programming/2008 and DaO/ 2011)
This is a journey…
18 Nov 2014

7. There are five possible types of internal audits of Joint Activities
Governance Level
Joint Governance /Fund operations
Steering Committee
UN Country Team
(DaO)
Audit 1
Fund design and administration
Secretariat
Audit 2
Administrative Agent
Fund implementation
Joint implementation
Separate implementation
PUNO #1
PUNO #2
PUNO # 3
PUNO # 4 …
Audit
Audit
Audit 3 4 4
Consolidation 5

8. There are five possible types of internal audits of Joint Activities – level 1, 2 and 3
Joint governance:
Audited jointly by IASs of the PUNOs involved in Joint Activity
Report issued to the Joint Programme Steering Committee and to UNDG
PUNOs who have public internal audit report disclosure policies will make the report available publicly
Administration (AA, CA, MA):
Audited by the IAS of the PUNO which has this role (Administrative Agent/ AA, Convening Agency/ CA, or Managing Agent/MA)
Reporting:
Either integrated in a report on Joint governance and Administration
Or disclosed in a separate report by the IAS of the PUNO involved, according to its internal audit report disclosure policy
Implementation jointly by several PUNOs:
Internal audit conducted jointly by the IASs of the PUNOs involved in those activities
May be integrated in the audit of joint governance and administration
Or may be disclosed in a separate report by those involved in this joint activity, and will be issued according to the policies of disclosure of internal audit reports of the PUNOs involved

9. There are five possible types of internal audits of Joint Activities – level 4 and 5
Separate Implementation: i.e. the portion of programme activities separately by each PUNO
Audited by that PUNO based on its risk-based planning
Reporting: by the IAS of that PUNO, following the policy in place in that PUNO
Consolidation: a high level report
Prepared by the Lead IAS, based on high level summaries of key results and recommendations of
Audits of fund implementation (level ‘3’ and ‘4’)
Audits at the governance and administrative level (level ‘1’ and ‘2’ respectively)
Provided to the Joint Programme Steering Committee, and to UNDG or another inter-agency body as appropriate
Note! Depending on the Joint Activities, the consolidation (type 5) may include the results of all audits or of some only

10. Joint Investigations
12/06/2012

11. The UN Representatives of Investigation Services (UN-RIS) held its first meeting in September
Purpose: strengthening investigation practices and professionalism by:
Developing and adopting common principles to guide the investigative process on matters of specific and common interest for the UN investigative functions
Developing and disseminating recommended guidelines, practices and procedures for voluntary adoption by members
Exchanging information and best practices
Discussing emerging issues of common interest
Developing and communicating common positions on emerging issues relating to investigations that affect member organizations
Promoting and supporting operational independence and collaboration
Collaborating on joint investigations, training, sharing of information, skills and resources
Participating in external reviews
Who: All organizations of the UN system with an investigative function
18 Nov 2014

12. Internal Investigation External Investigation
Investigations can be internal or external, or one side leading to the other
Internal Investigation
External Investigation
All UNRIS members have the mandate
Staff members
 Internal justice system
Some UNRIS have the mandate
Suppliers
Individual contractors
Implementing partners
NGO
Governmental entities
Any other contracted party
 Vendor sanction mechanism
18 Nov 2014

13. UNRIS provided the text on investigation in Joint Programming
Joint Programming Guidelines: a chapter on investigations, explaining the basic principles
More needs to be done, taking into consideration the context
Staff members
External parties – e.g. the level of Implementing Partners sharing among organizations (in humanitarian vs. development context)
Investigations, whether internal or external, have (often) legal implications, e.g.
Legal frameworks
Referral to national authorities
Interacting with Legal Offices is paramount
18 Nov 2014