Site Map

OIOS Manuals

Useful Links

Job Opportunities

 



















You are here: Home

United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services

The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was established in July 1994 as an operationally independent office that assists the Secretary-General in fulfilling his internal oversight responsibilities in respect of the resources and staff of the Organization through monitoring, internal audit, inspection, evaluation and investigation. The Office has the authority to initiate, carry out and report on any action it considers necessary to fulfill its responsibilities with regard to its oversight functions.

The Office assists Member States and the Organization in protecting its assets and in ensuring the compliance of programme activities with resolutions, regulations, rules and policies as well as the more efficient and effective delivery of the Organization’s activities; preventing and detecting fraud, waste, abuse, malfeasance or mismanagement; and improving the delivery of the Organization’s programmes and activities to enable it to achieve better results by determining all factors affecting the efficient and effective implementation of programmes.

The strategy of the Office is focused on ensuring that the Organization has an effective and transparent system of accountability in place and the capacity to identify, assess and mitigate the risks that might prevent it from achieving its objectives. To that end, the Office will (a) propose measures to assist the Organization in responding rapidly to emerging risks and opportunities; (b) provide independent information and assessments to assist effective decision-making; (c) provide independent reviews of the effectiveness of the use of the Organization’s resources; and (d) promote a culture of change, including accountability, planning, integrity, results orientation, and risk awareness and management.

 


A different angle: A conversation with Ms. Carman Lapointe


In April 2012, Under-Secretary-General Lapointe spoke with the Department of Management to share her perspective on accountability.

"We try to create accountability by defining a set of rules and regulations that everyone has to obey. Yet, you cannot expect those rules by themselves to be an effective mechanism for accountability. If we are to be responsible to each other, to our clients, and to the Organization, we need to understand the principles behind the rules." (more)