The United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) is an independent office in the United Nations Secretariat whose mandate is to "assist the Secretary-General in fulfilling his internal oversight responsibilities in respect of the resources and staff of the Organization." Specifically, activities include

internal audit Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to ...

, investigation, monitoring, evaluation, inspection, reporting and support services to the United Nations Secretariat. Its intended and mandated function is similar to many national government audit organisations, like the

Government Accountability Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal gover ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It reports not only to the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of pres ...

, but also to the Secretary-General. The current head of the OIOS,

Under-Secretary-General An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under-s ...

Fatoumata Ndiaye of

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

, was appointed as Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services for a five-year term starting on 17 October 2019, succeeding

Heidi Mendoza Heidi Macaraan Lloce-Mendoza (born November 3, 1962) is a former Undersecretary General for the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight. A Filipino public official, Mendoza was commissioner and officer-in-charge of the Commission on Audit of ...

the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The office was established in 1994 at the insistence of the United States that the UN take steps to curb waste and corruption, although there are some doubts concerning its effectiveness. Its first head was

Karl Theodor Paschke.

Role and function

According to its website:

The Office submits reports to the Secretary-General that provide insight into the effective utilization of the resources of the Organization and the protection of its assets and also makes these reports available to the General Assembly. OIOS adds value by providing world-wide audit, investigation, inspection, programme monitoring, evaluation and consulting services to the United Nations Secretariat and a wide range of United Nations operational funds, programmes and tribunals. OIOS sees itself as an agent of change, committed to help client departments and offices bring about responsible administration of resources and a culture of accountability, transparency, results-orientation and risk awareness.

Under-Secretaries-General

References

External links

*
OIOS reports posted by the United States mission to the UN
*

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

United Nations Procurement Task Force: Interim Report on a Concerned UN Staff Member (PTF-R011-06), 19 Dec 2006
January 12, 2009
United Nations Procurement Task Force: Report on Cogim SPA and Corimec Italiana SPA (PTF-R008-07), 28 Jun 2007
January 12, 2009
United Nations Procurement Task Force: Final Report on a Concerned UN Staff Member and UNOPS Procurement (PTF-R012-07), 15 Aug 2007
January 12, 2009 Organizations established by the United Nations United Nations Secretariat Internal audit {{UN-stub