FC 108/8 |
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FC 108/8 |
Hundred and Eighth Session |
Rome, 27 September – 1 October 2004 |
Appointment of the Auditor General of
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II. MODIFICATIONS OF FINANCIAL REGULATION 12.1 FROM 1945 TO 1971
1. In May 2004, at its Hundred and Seventh Session, the Finance Committee “requested that background information on the rationale of Financial Regulation 12.1 and a comparative study of the practices of other UN agencies be provided by the secretariat in order that such matters could be discussed in more detail at the September 2004 session of the Finance Committee” (Cf. Report of the Hundred and Seventh Session of the Finance Committee, 10-18 May 2004, Document CL 127/14).
2. Financial Regulation 12.1, relevant to the issue under consideration, reads as follows:
“An External Auditor, who shall be the Auditor General (or person exercising an equivalent function) of a Member Nation, shall be appointed in the manner and for the period decided by the Council”.
3. This document, which has been prepared in response to the above request, provides information on the rationale behind the wording of Financial Regulation 12.1 and the practices in place at other organizations of the United Nations system.
4. It should be noted that “Price, Waterhouse & Co.” was the External Auditor of the Organization from 1945 to 19501, the Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom from 1951 to 1993, the Senior President of the French “Cour des comptes” from 1994 to 2001, and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India since 20022.
5. The first version of the Financial Regulations dates from 1945. In accordance with the then Financial Regulation XVII.1, a qualified person, agency, authority, or firm could be appointed or employed to make an independent external audit. The text of Financial Regulation XVII.1 was the following:
“1. The Conference shall, upon the recommendation of the Committee on Financial Control, appoint or employ a qualified person, agency, authority, or firm, in no way connected with the Organization, to make annually, and at such other times as may be necessary for special purposes, an independent audit of the funds, assets, and accounts of the Organization.”3
6. The UN Advisory Committee on Administrative Questions suggested in 1948 that FAO become a participant of the proposed UN Joint Audit System (UN Advisory Committee, Fifth Report). At the Fifth Session of the Conference, in 1949, the Australian delegation submitted a formal amendment to Financial Regulation XVII in order to permit FAO to participate in the UN Joint Audit System. The Conference, while agreeing with the proposal and with the amendment, noted that the selection of an External Auditor for FAO would require consultation with other international organizations and that it would be inopportune to finalize the new system before the Organization had moved its Headquarters to the permanent site. The Conference, accordingly, authorized the Council to approve the nomination of an External Auditor to the panel to be constituted by the United Nations and the selection of an auditor from such panel to audit the accounts of the Organization beginning with those of 1951.4
7. Consequently, the Conference amended Financial Regulation XVII.1, mainly by adding two new sentences at the end of the text of 1945. A small modification was also introduced in the original text of 1945, namely the reference to the “Committee on Financial Control” was substituted by the reference to the “Council”. The version of Financial Regulation XVII.1, as amended in 1949, read as follows:
“The Conference shall upon the recommendation of the Council appoint or employ a qualified person, agency, authority or firm and in no way connected with the Organization, to make annually, and at such times as may be necessary for special purposes an independent audit of the funds, assets and accounts of the Organization. The Conference may alternatively with or without recommendation of the Council appoint one or more members of any audit panel set up by the United Nations and/or specialized agencies to perform such audit or may delegate to the Council the task of selecting auditors from such panel. The Council may appoint or fill vacancies as required where auditors appointed by the Conference are unable to act and may employ auditors without authority from the Conference for any special task of an urgent nature.”5
On that occasion, the Conference directed that the audit principles approved by the General Assembly of the UN be incorporated in the Financial Regulations.
8. Following the authorization given to the Council by the Conference to approve the nomination of an External Auditor to the panel to be constituted by the United Nations and the selection of an auditor from such panel to audit the accounts of the Organization beginning with those of 1951, the Director General presented a report to the Council, at its Ninth Session in May 1950, giving information on the negotiations being conducted by him concerning the selection of an External Auditor under the joint system of audit of the United Nations and specialized agencies.6
9. Subsequently, the Council, at its Tenth Session in October-November 1950, approved the appointment of Sir Frank Tribe, Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom, as the External Auditor of the Organization, as recommended by the Director-General and concurred in by the Committee of Financial Control.7
10. At the Special Session of the Conference in November 1950, the Conference adopted a fully revised version of the Financial Regulations. The main reason to undertake a general overhauling of the Financial Regulations was summarized by the Director-General with the following words: “In particular, it seemed desirable to bring the Financial Regulations as nearly as practicable into line with those of the United Nations. FAO’s Financial Regulations originally were drawn up before formal establishment of the United Nations”.8
11. Financial Regulation XVII was renumbered as XII and its content restructured in more detail and expanded. The new Regulation XII.1 (External Audit) read as follows:
“Having regard to the Joint System for External Audit of the United Nations and Specialized Agencies [see page 50], the Conference
(a) may, upon the recommendation of the Council, appoint or employ a qualified person, agency, authority, or firm, in no way connected with the Organization, to make annually and at such time as may be necessary for special purposes, an independent audit of the Organization;
(b) may alternatively, with or without recommendation of the Council, appoint one or more members of the Audit Panel set up by the United Nations and/or specialized agencies to perform such audit; or
(c) may delegate to the Council the task of selecting auditor(s) from such a panel.
The Council may appoint or fill vacancies as required where auditor(s) appointed by the Conference are unable to act, and may employ auditors without authority from the Conference for any special task of an urgent nature. Auditor(s) appointed under the authority of the Conference may be removed only by the Conference”.9
12. To the revised version of the Financial Regulations of 1950 an Annex was added containing the “Principles Governing Audit Procedures”, recommended by the Ninth Session of the Economic Council to the Fourth Session of the General Assembly of the UN, and the “Joint System of External Audit”, approved by the Fourth Session of the General Assembly of the UN.10 As regards the policy implications of the amended Financial Regulations, the Conference requested the Council “to continue the study of the Financial Regulations of the Organization, with the aim of achieving the greatest warranted degree of conformity with the Financial Regulations of the United Nations and other specialized agencies”.11
13. At the Ninth Session of the Conference in 1957, the Conference made the following modifications to Financial Regulation XII.1:
“In the first sentence of paragraph 12.1 of Regulation XII (External Audit) replace the word “Conference” by the word “Council” and the word “Council” in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) by the words “Finance Committee” and delete sub-paragraph (c) as well as the last two sentences of paragraph 12.1.”12
14. From 1945 till 1971 Financial Regulation 12.1 maintained the provision that a qualified person, agency, authority, or firm could be appointed or employed to make an independent external audit. Such provision was modified in 1971 when the whole paragraph 12.1 was revised, for the last time, to provide that the External Auditor shall be the Auditor-General of a Member Nation. Financial Regulation 12.1, as modified in 1971 and as presently in force, reads:
“An External Auditor, who shall be the Auditor-General (or person exercising an equivalent function) of a Member Nation, shall be appointed in the manner and for the period decided by the Council.”13
15. To enable a proper understanding of the issue under discussion, the modification of Financial Regulation 12.1 in 1971 should be seen in the light of the history of the discussions of this issue in the UN.
16. By resolution 2049 (XX) of 13 December 1965, the General Assembly of the United Nations established an “Ad Hoc Committee of Experts to Examine the Finances of the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies”, consisting of “fourteen Member States”. The Resolution invited the Ad Hoc Committee to examine, with the assistance of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and in liaison with the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the Specialized Agencies and of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the entire range of the budgetary problems of the United Nations and the organizations brought into relationship with it, notably their administrative and budgetary procedures, the means of comparing and, if possible, standardizing their budgets and the financial aspects of their expansion, with a view to avoiding needless expenditure, particularly expenditure resulting from duplication.
17. The Ad Hoc Committee of Experts made a number of recommendations to the General Assembly, which were reviewed by the Administrative Committee on Coordination and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. The Ad Hoc Committee recommended that if the organizations decided to adapt their internal regulations in order to follow the recommendations concerning budget preparation format and practices, they should try, as far as practicable, to standardize their respective Financial Regulations. The studies directed towards the implementation of this particular recommendation concentrated, first, on the Financial Regulations relating to the subject of External Audit, partly because the harmonization of other provisions was found to raise broader issues and require prior in-depth review. It was decided at a meeting of the Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations, the Specialized Agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency that a standard version of the Regulations relating to External Audit could be prepared and, after approval by the Panel, could be brought to the notice of the various Agencies.
18. In August 1969, Sir Bruce Fraser, the External Auditor of FAO, sent to the Director-General proposed standard Financial Regulations relating to External Audit which he had prepared and which had been approved by the Panel. The proposed standard Regulations, together with an amended Appendix, were eventually considered by the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions (CCAQ), at its Special Session in Geneva, in September 1969; at its 32nd Session in Vienna, in August and September 1970 and, finally, at its 33rd Session in London, in March 1971. The Session in London was also attended by representatives of the Panel of Auditors and led to the agreement by that Body of “Proposed Standard Provisions for Financial Regulations relating to External Auditor” together with “Proposed Additional Terms of Reference governing External Audit”.
19. The proposals were referred to the Administrative Committee on Coordination which approved them with a recommendation that they be approved by the competent Governing Bodies of the organizations concerned. In the case of FAO, the Conference, at its 16th Session, in November 1971, adopted Financial Regulation XII.14
20. The proposed Financial Regulation XII was the same for all organizations of the system subject to a few limited adjustments and exceptions. Thus, in the case of the United Nations, provision was made for a “Board of Auditors” which members were appointed for a pre-determined number of terms to be filled on a staggered manner in order to ensure continuity. For organizations producing biennial final accounts a further provision was proposed whereby a report on interim accounts would be submitted to the appropriate organ. The names of the heads of agencies, as well as the appropriate governing bodies involved in the selection and appointment of the External Auditors, and the review of their reports changed depending on the constitutional structure of each organization. It was noted that, in the case of the Universal Postal Union, the International Telecommunications Union, as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization, the audit function was performed by the Swiss Government.
21. Aside from these adjustments and specific exceptions, the text of Financial Regulation XII was exactly the same for all organizations of the United Nations system. 15
22. As recalled above, under Financial Regulation 12.1 “the External Auditor (…) shall be the Auditor-General or person exercising an equivalent function of a Member Nation”. Financial Regulation 12.2 provides, furthermore, that “if the External Auditor ceases to hold the office of Auditor General (or equivalent function) in his own country, his tenure of office as External Auditor shall thereupon be terminated and he shall be succeeded as External Auditor by his successor as Auditor-General. The External Auditor may not otherwise be removed during his tenure of office except by the Council”.
23. It is clear from the foregoing provisions that the intention of those involved in the formulation of the proposed Financial Regulation was that the External Auditor should be the Auditor-General, or person exercising an equivalent function, of a Member Nation. In the event that he should cease to hold such office, his tenure of office in the organization would be terminated and he would be succeeded as External Auditor by his successor as Auditor-General. In response to the request made by the Finance Committee at its Hundred and Seventh session that further information be provided in relation to the rationale for that provision, the Organization has undertaken extensive research into the matter and has contacted a large number of other organizations16. However, while it has been possible to obtain substantial information on specific issues relating to audit procedures, very limited information has been made available to the Organization on the substantive reasons for which Financial Regulation 12.1 was formulated. The following paragraphs summarize the key information gathered from discussion with other organizations and review of the Organization’s own records.
24. First, it would appear that the modification of Financial Regulation 12.1 in 1971 simply aimed at incorporating into the FAO Financial Regulations a practice that FAO had followed since 1951 and that the United Nations had generally followed since 1946. FAO, although having the possibility of appointing a private firm as External Auditor in accordance with its own Financial Regulations until 1971, decided already in 1951 to appoint the Auditor General of a Member Nation.
25. As regards the United Nations, since its establishment, the External Auditors of the United Nations had been the Auditors-General of three Member States. Indeed, on 7 December 1946, the General Assembly, by its resolution 74(I) established the United Nations Board of Auditors, composed of the Auditors-General of three Member States and decided that they would serve as External Auditors of the accounts of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and “of such specialized agencies as may be designated by the appropriate authority” (emphasis added).
26. Three years later, the General Assembly adopted resolution 347 (IV) of 24 November 1949 entitled “audit procedures for the United Nations and the specialized agencies”, by which it endorsed revised procedures governing the audit of the accounts of the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies and established the principles regarding a joint system of External Auditors. Those procedures and principles were set out in annexes A and B of the resolution.
27. According to resolution 347 (IV), the previous system under which members of the Board of Auditors of the United Nations had been designated to serve as External Auditors of specialized agencies was replaced with a new arrangement providing for the establishment of a joint system of external audit in the form of a Panel of External Auditors. Under annex B to resolution 347 (IV), each organization was invited to select one or more members of the Panel to perform its audit. Annex B to resolution 347 (IV) stated that the Panel of External Auditors would not exceed six in number and that it would consist of the auditors appointed by common consent by the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies. The annex imposed an important limitation on the appointment of the members of the Panel insofar as it had to be composed of auditors having the rank of Auditor-General or its equivalent in the various Member States.
28. According to resolution 347 (IV), the Panel of External Auditors was established for three main purposes. Its first task was to provide organizations with an opportunity to select an External Auditor from the list of six external auditors members of the Panel. Secondly, annual meetings of the Panel were to be used by its members for the coordination of their audits and for the exchange of information on methods and findings. Finally, the Panel was invited to submit any observations or recommendations which it might wish to make on the coordination and standardization of the accounts and financial procedures of the United Nations and the specialized agencies.
29. It appears from this information that the joint system of External Auditors introduced by the General Assembly in its resolution 347 (IV) was based to a great extent on the assumption that most of the specialized agencies would structure their external audit services along the lines of the external audit procedures employed by the United Nations. Therefore, under the joint system, each organization was asked to select its External Auditor or Auditors from the members of the Panel and the latter were required to have the rank of Auditor-General or its equivalent in the various Member States, as provided for by the United Nations regulations.
30. In 1959, the General Assembly reviewed, on the basis of the observations submitted by the Panel and the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions (CCAQ) of the ACC, the operation of the joint system of External Auditors and concluded that the original concept of having a Panel of Auditors from which the Auditors of the participating organizations would be chosen was no longer viable and that, consequently, such function of the Panel should be abolished. The General Assembly, by resolution 1438 (XIV) of 5 December 1959, revised the terms of reference of the Panel. Paragraph 1 of the annex to the resolution stated that “the purpose of the Panel shall be to further coordination of the audits for which its members are responsible and to exchange information on methods and findings”. The General Assembly also decided that the Panel would have a different composition. Paragraph 1 of resolution 1438 (XIV) provided that the Panel of External Auditors shall be composed of the members of the United Nations Board of Auditors and appointed External Auditors of the Specialized Agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
31. Second, it would appear that, in relation to the issue of external audit, the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts established by the General Assembly in 1965 used as its key reference point state-of-the-art systems of external control used in public administrations in Member States, (and not those in use in private companies), which were to be replicated within the organizations of the system. Under the circumstances, it was normal that institutions of the type entrusted with audit of the organizations of the United Nations system should continue to be those in charge of audit of national public administrations. This general approach to the matter is reflected in the Second Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to the General Assembly which states, inter alia, “The Committee was impressed by the fact that external controls over the organizations’ financial management were, generally speaking, less developed than is the case in many Member States. The implications of this situation might not have been too serious as long as the organizations’ expenditures remained at a relatively modest level. But the rapid growth in their budgets in recent years and the level now reached by total expenditure prompted the Committee to advocate the strengthening of external controls”.17
32. Third, from the Conference reports of the sessions concerned with the modification of the Financial Regulations, a generally accepted view on audit procedures seems to emerge that the External Auditors should be, preferably until 1971 and necessarily afterwards, Auditors-General of Members Nations within the framework of the UN Joint Audit System. In particular:
33. As noted above, the Organization has consulted other organizations in the system and enquired from them whether there had been any changes in their Financial Regulations on the matter or whether any other noteworthy developments had occurred concerning the issue raised by the Finance Committee. The organizations contacted have confirmed that their Financial Regulations continue to make provision for the appointment of an External Auditor who is the Auditor-General of a Member.
34. As already indicated above, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) confirmed that under the relevant Article of the Convention establishing WIPO “the auditing of the accounts shall be effected by one or more Member States, or by external auditors (…)”. From a legal point of view, the External Auditor of WIPO could be from the private sector and a document submitted to the WIPO Assemblies in September 1999 admitted the possibility of hiring commercial firms as an option. However, a policy decision taken earlier continued to be followed and, accordingly, the External Auditor of WIPO has continued to be the Director of the Swiss Federal Audit Office, as is the case since 1883. At the Universal Postal Union and at the International Telecommunications Union the Director of the Swiss Federal Audit Office, the host country, has also been the External Auditor of the Unions.
35. The World Health Organization has indicated that, on two recent occasions, the secretariat had received a proposal from a Government presenting commercial firms as candidates for the position. In both cases, the concerned Governments were asked to confirm that the firms in question were indeed the Auditors-General (or officers holding equivalent title or status) of the Government, in the absence of which the candidates would not meet the requirements for the position and could not be considered. On these two occasions, no such confirmation was received. Other organizations of the system when recalling that the External Auditors had to be Auditors-General of Member Nations, pointed out that they could sub-contract part of their work. Presumably this would be done in specific areas where commercial companies would have a comparative advantage or specialized expertise, in case of need.
36. In 1995, the Executive Secretary of the Panel of the External Auditors of the United Nations, the Specialized Agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency sent a memorandum to the Legal Counsel of the United Nations enquiring, inter alia, about who would qualify for Panel membership within the framework of the General Assembly resolutions establishing the panel and whether private sector companies could participate therein. The Legal Counsel of the United Nations recalled that the relevant provisions of resolution 1438 (XIV) would not provide any grounds for drawing a distinction between private and government audit institutions employed by specialized agencies18. “It appears from the text that should a specialized agency decide to contract a private institution to undertake the external audit of its accounts, under resolution 1438(XIV) a designated official of that institution would be entitled to become a member of the Panel for the duration of the contract”19. At the time of completion of this document, the Organization had not been informed of the context in which this opinion was delivered. In any case, it does not seem that any private sector-audit firms are or have been members of the Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations, Specialized Agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency20.
37. As noted above, in accordance with the Financial Regulations and with longstanding practice, the Organization only invites Auditors General of Member Nations to bid for the external audit position. From past experience it should be noted that, while the Auditors General of all Member Nations are invited to bid, many choose not to participate in the bidding process because of resource constraints. Extending the invitation to bid not only to all Member Nations but also to a number of large private sector audit firms could increase the number of eligible bids and thereby the possibility for the Organization to benefit from the knowledge and specialist competence of a wider range of auditors. However, inviting also private sector auditors to bid would possibly lead to a longer and more complex selections process due to the increase in the number of bids and the diversity between these.
38. In view of the facts described above in relation to how Financial Regulation XII was formulated and consistent with the views of several of the organizations contacted as part of the present review, it may be advisable that any changes in the provisions regarding the status of the External Auditor as the Auditor-General of a Member should be the result of a process carried out at an inter-agency level21. Of course, this would be without any prejudice to the possibility for the Finance Committee, as part of its statutory functions, to recommend to the Council the appointment of the External Auditor.
39. The Committee is invited to review the present document and provide such views and comments thereon as appropriate. Should the Committee be of the opinion that the matter should be explored further, it is suggested that, in view of its intrinsically inter-agency nature, it be referred by the Director-General to the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination.
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1 “Price, Waterhouse & Co.” had audited already the accounts of the “United Nations Interim Commission on Food in Agriculture” for the period from 15 July 1943 to 30 September 1945. The Conference accepted the auditors’ report and approved the accounts at its First Session (See Report of the First Session of the Conference, October-November 1945, page 56). Subsequently, “Price, Waterhouse & Co.” audited the accounts of the first financial period ending June 1946 (see Report of the Third Session of the Conference, August-September 1947, page 69), the second financial year ending 31 December 1947 (see Report of the 4th Session of the Conference, November 1948, page 89), the third financial year ending 31 December 1948 (see document C 49/11, September 1949), the fourth financial year ending 31 December 1949 (See Report of the Special Session of the Conference, November 1950, page 25 and correspondent references), and the fifth financial year ending December 1950 (see document C 51/18 prepared for the 6th Session of the Conference, November-December 1951).
2 For the Appointment of the Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom, see Report of the Tenth and Eleventh session of the Council, 1950, page 31. For the appointment of the Senior President of the French “Cour des comptes”, see Report of the 104th Session of the Council, 1993, paragraphs 39-43. For the appointment of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, see Report of the 120th Session of the Council, 2001, paragraphs 100-102.
3 Report of the First Session of the Conference, October-November 1945, Appendix III, page 81; Regulation XVII: External Audit.
4 See Report of the Fifth Session of the Conference, November-December 1949, pages 55-56; External Auditing.
5 Report of the Fifth Session of the Conference, November-December 1949, Appendix C, p. 71; Financial Regulation XVII.
6 Report of the Ninth Session of the Council, May 1950, page 20. And also document CL 9/15: Note of the Director General on Administrative and Financial Questions, prepared for such session of the Council.
7 Report of the Tenth and Eleventh Sessions of the Council, October-November 1950, page 31.
8 Report of the Special Session of the Conference, November 1950, Interpretive Summary (sic), page ix.
9 Report of the Special Session of the Conference, November 1950, Appendix A, page 48.
10 Report of the Special Session of the Conference, November 1950, Appendix A, pages 49-50.
11 Report of the Special Session of the Conference, November 1950, pages 18-19; III. Constitutional Matters.
12 Report of the Ninth Session of the Conference, November 1957, Appendix I, page 309.
13 Report of the Sixteenth Session of the Conference, November 1971, Appendix G, page 190.
14 See Resolution 28/71 adopted by the Conference at its 16th Session, Report of the 16th Session of the Conference, November 1971, paragraph 397.
15 IFAD, which came into being at a later date, although a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a commercial auditor.
16 The following are the enquiries that the Organization has made in order to obtain the requested information. First, insofar as the process of formulation of standardized Financial Regulations on External Audit had been done in close consultation with the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), the Organization contacted the secretariat of the United Nations System Chief Executive Board for Coordination which replaced the ACC. Various documents were received from the secretariat although none of them provides specific information on the issue at hand. Second, the Organization sent messages to all the organizations on the United Nations system and to a few organizations which are not part of the system. Third, the Organization contacted the Chairman of the Panel of Auditors of the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies and its secretariat. In addition, research was made at the archives of the Organization. The Organization does not exclude that after completion of this document, additional information may become available.
17 Document A/6343, paragraph 60.
18 Paragraph 1 of the annex to resolution 1438 (XIV) of the General Assembly provides that “the members of the United Nations Board of Auditors and the appointed external auditors of the specialized agencies shall constitute a Panel of External Auditors (…)”.
19 United Nations Juridical Yearbook, 1995, page 450.
20 At present (August 2004) the membership of the Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations, Specialized Agencies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as the organizations which they audit, are as follows: (1) Auditor-General of the Republic of South Africa (Chairman) – United Nations, United Nations Peace-Keeping Operations, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, United Nations Office for Project Services, Global Environment Facility (GEF-UNDP); International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; United Nations Industrial Development Organziation. (2) Auditor General of Canada – International Civil Aviation Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; (3) Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – International Labour Organisation; International Atomic Energy Agency; World Food Programme; (4) Director, Swiss Federal Audit Office – International Telecommunications Union; Universal Postal Union; World Intellectual Property Organization; (5) First President of the Court of Accounts of France - United Nations, United Nations Peace-Keeping Operations, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, International Trade Centre, United Nations International Drug Control Programme, International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, United nations Institute for Training and Research, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, United Nations Compensation Commission; World Meteorological Organization; (6) Chairman, Philippine Commission on Audit – United Nations, United Nations Peace Keeping Operations, United Nations University, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, United Nations Escrow (Iraq) Account, Global Environment Facility (GEF) – UNEP, United Nations Fund for International Partnerships; (7) Comptroller and Auditor General of India – International Maritime Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; World Health Organization.
21 This could be done through appropriate structures such as the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination which replaced the Administrative Committee on Coordination, or be the subject of review within the United Nations appropriate bodies, in view of the fact that the arrangements in force in almost all the Specialized Agencies were structured on the basis of those developed within the United Nations.