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

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

Joint Internal Audits 18 Nov 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joint Investigations 12/06/2012

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

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

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