FC 109/10

Finance Committee

I. BACKGROUND

1. During its 108^th session in September/October 2004, the Committee reviewed document FC 108/8 “Appointment of the Auditor General of a Member Nation as External Auditor (Financial Regulation 12.1)” which had been prepared at the Committee’s request. The Committee discussed the process in place for selecting and appointing the External Auditor and noted the background information included in the document in relation to the evolution of Financial Regulation 12.1 which stipulated that the External Auditor should be an Auditor General (or person exercising an equivalent function) of a Member Nation.

2. With regard to the possibility of extending the invitation to bid for the external audit of FAO, not only to Auditors General of all member nations, but also to large private sector audit firms, the Committee requested that, in view of the intrinsically inter-agency nature of the subject, the Director-General should refer the matter to the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination for additional information.

II. CONCLUSION

3. The question has now been submitted to the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) for discussion prior to consideration by the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination. The secretariat will report back to the Finance Committee on further developments on this issue during a future session.