Principal Recipient Audit Approach

Audits of UNDP are guided by the so-called ‘single audit’ principle, whereby any review of UNDP activities by an external authority, including any governmental authority, is precluded, instead a) the United Nations Board of Auditors (UN BoA) retains the exclusive right to carry out external audit of the accounts, books and statements of UNDP; and b) the Office of Audit and Investigations (OAI) retains the exclusive right to carry out internal audit of the accounts, books and statements of UNDP.

The purpose of the ‘single audit’ principle is to avoid that UNDP operations, transactions and books are audited more than once by more than one party. To this effect, the UN BoA and OAI coordinate their audit activities to avoid any possible duplication of efforts and no other entity, external or internal, has the authority to audit UNDP activities.

In addition, in countries falling under the Global Fund’s Additional Safeguards Policy (ASP) [1]., the Global Fund may request a special purpose audit on the use of Global Fund resources. In such cases, UNDP must (1) secure the appointment of a mutually agreed independent auditor; and (2) prepare mutually agreed audit terms of reference which reflect, as necessary, circumstances giving rise to the Global Fund’s request for said audit. The cost of such special purpose audit are charged to the grant budget. The Global Fund’s request for a special purpose audit is handled in conformity with the working arrangements agreed between the independent oversight offices of the PR and the Global Fund (See Article 7b(ii) of the Grant Regulations).

Each year, guided by a risk-based audit approach, OAI determines the list of UNDP Country Offices (COs) that are serving as Global Fund interim PR, which will be audited in the following year. The list is submitted to the UNDP Administrator for approval and shared with the Global Fund Secretariat and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Global Fund.

In accordance with UNDP Executive Board Decision 2012/18, as of 1 December 2012, UNDP publishes on its audit public disclosure website all UNDP audit reports within 30 calendar days after they are internally issued to UNDP management.

Practice Pointer

The Project Management Unit (PMU) should appoint an audit focal point to cover both the CO and Sub-recipient (SR) audits. It is important that the focal point is granted access to CARDS system.

[1] The Additional Safeguard Policy (ASP) is a risk management tool applied on the basis of risks identified in countries where a grant or group of grants is/are being implemented. The ASP comes into effect when the systems to ensure accountability over the use of Global Fund resources are notably weak and assets would be exposed to an unacceptable level of risk if additional measures were not applied.

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Resources

UNDP POPP Financial Regulations and Rules

Functional Area: Audit and Investigation; Financial Management; Legal Framework Project Stage: Grant Reporting; Grant Making and Signing; Grant Implementation Author: UNDP Language: English Type: Policies, Procedures and guidance Topic: Financial Reporting, Anti-corruption Measures, Conflict of Interest, Financial Rules and Regulations Resource File Format: Link Resource Accessibility: Publicly accessible

UNDP Published Internal Audit Reports

Functional Area: Audit and Investigations; Sub-recipient Management Project Stage: Grant Reporting; PR Start-up Author: UNDP Language: English Type: Tool Topic: Sub-recipient Audit Follow-up, Audit and Investigation, Grant Regulations, audit public disclosure Resource File Format: Link Resource Accessibility: Publicly accessible

Functional Areas

Project Lifecycle