United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services

Office of Internal Oversight Services
United Nations Headquarters, New York City
Org type	Office of the Secretariat
Acronyms	OIOS
Head	Under-Secretary-General Carman Lapointe-Young
Status	Active
Established	1994
Website	http://www.un.org/Depts/oios
Parent org	United Nations Secretariat

The United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) is a United Nations organ whose primary purpose is to perform world-wide audit, investigation, inspection, programme monitoring, evaluation and consulting services to the United Nations Secretariat and the rest of the United Nations System.^[1]

Its intended and mandated function is similar to many national government audit organisations, like the Government Accountability Office in the United States. And like most of its national counterparts it reports to the General Assembly rather than to the Secretary-General's office.

The current head of the OIOS, Under-Secretary-General Carman Lapointe-Young of Canada, was appointed as Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services for a five-year term starting on 14 September 2010, succeeding Inga-Britt Ahlenius of Sweden.

The agency was established in 1994.^[2] Its first head was Under-Secretary-General Karl 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

#	Portrait	Under-Secretary-General	Dates in office	Nationality
1		Karl Theodor Paschke	1 January 1994 – 31 December 1999	German
2		Dileep Nair	24 April 2000 – 23 April 2005	Singaporean
3		Inga-Britt Ahlenius	15 July 2005– 14 July 2010	Swedish
		Prior to joining the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), Ahlenius was Auditor General of Kosovo from 2003 to 2005. Previously she served as the Auditor General of Sweden from 1993 to 2003. Before her appointment as Auditor General of the Swedish National Audit Office, Ahlenius worked for the Ministry of Finance of Sweden as Head of the Budget Department from 1987 to 1993. During her tenure as Auditor General of Sweden , Ahlenius chaired the INTOSAI Auditing Standards Committee for eight years. She was chairman of the Governing Board of the European Organization for Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) during 1993 to 1996. Mrs. Ahlenius was a member of the Committee of Independent Experts that was called for by the European Parliament with a mandate to examine the way in which the European Commission detects and deals with fraud, mismanagement and nepotism. [Their report led to the resignation of the Commission.]
4		Carman Lapointe-Young	14 September 2010– Incumbent	Canadian
		Carman L. Lapointe of Canada was appointed as Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services for a five-year term starting on 14 September 2010. Prior to her appointment she was the director of the Office of Audit and Oversight at the International Fund for Agricultural Development during 2009-2010. From 2004 to 2009, she was the Auditor General of the World Bank Group. Lapointe has also held chief oversight positions in a number of Canadian crown corporations. Among them: Corporate Auditor with Canada Post Corporation; Auditor of the Bank of Canada; Vice President, Internal Audit and Evaluation with Export Development Canada. She has served as Chairperson and member of the Audit Committee of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and as Audit Committee Member for UNRWA. In 1994-95, Lapointe was Chairperson of the Institute of Internal Auditors, the profession's global organization. She has also served on the Criteria of Control Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and currently serves on a standards task force for the International Federation of Accountants.

References

1. ^ http://www.un.org/Depts/oios/
2. ^ http://www.un.org/Depts/oios/about_us.htm

• Albright, Madeleine: The United States and the United Nations, 11 May 1995.

External links

• Official website
• Annual reports of the OIOS
• Other reports of the OIOS
• OIOS press releases