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Home > About us > What we do > International Activities > Audit of international bodies

Audit of international bodies

The C&AG is the appointed external auditor of a number of international bodies. 

 

In this regard, the NAO provides external audit services to these organizations, working entirely independently of its role as the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of the United Kingdom.

 

In December 2009, the General Assembly of the United Nations elected the NAO to their Board of Auditors to serve for a six year term from 1 July 2010. The C&AG will become one of three members of the UN Board responsible for auditing the United Nations itself including peacekeeping operations and related organisation such as UNICEF and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

 

Client list

Our international clients include:

 

• UN World Food Programme
• Commonwealth Secretariat
• Pan American Health Organisation
• International Criminal Court
• International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund
• Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Control for Coventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies
• World Meteorological Organisation
• The Group on Earth Observations
• Advisory Centre on World Trade Organisation Law

 

Working with us

For most of the bodies we audit, we deliver not just audit opinions on accounts but also long form audit reports, which are a mixture of financial and VFM.  

 

The long-form audit reports are published with the financial statements and presented by the NAO to the organisations’ governing bodies of member states.

 

They support improved accountability and good governance by enabling us to platform both financial and performance audit issues based on focussed work carried out in addition to the standard financial audit.

 

Drawing on the experience we have gained from this work, we have published several guides to International Public Sector Accounting Standards.

 

• IPSAS Compliance guide 2008/09  (2MB)
• IPSAS – Preparing for Audit Guide  (217KB)

 

(For more information, see our Guidance page).

 

If you have any questions about the NAO’s international audits work please contact Damian Brewitt via the NAO enquiry desk.

 

If you have any questions about the NAO’s work on the UN Board, please contact Hugh O’ Farrell, Director via the NAO enquiry desk.