Financial Reports and Audited Financial Statements, and Reports of the Board of Auditors

A/RES/51/225View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda items 111a United Nations, 111b United Nations Development Programme, 111c United Nations Children's Fund, 111d United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 111e United Nations Institute for Training and Research, 111f Voluntary funds administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 111g Fund of the United Nations Environment Programme, 111h United Nations Population Fund, 111i United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation, 111j Fund of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme and 111k United Nations Office for Project Services, published in 1997.

What else is in this group?

84 documents · 1984–2026

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2026).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	A/RES/80/231 B	Financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors	—	–
2025	A/RES/80/231	Financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors	695	–
2025	A/RES/79/245 B	Financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors	—	–
2024	A/RES/79/245 A	Financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors	—	–
2024	A/RES/78/242 B	Financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors	—	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

11 subjects

Accounting and Reporting Accounts Auditing Financial Management Financial Statements Fraud Funds Recommendations Reporting Procedures Standards Trust Funds

What’s in this document?

36 operative paragraphs

A

Accepts the financial reports and audited financial statements and the audit opinions and reports of the Board of Auditors regarding the aforementioned organizations, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Also accepts the concise summary of principal findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Board of Auditors, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Notes with serious concern that the Board of Auditors has qualified its audit opinion on the financial statements of the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation and the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II);

Requests the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the United Nations funds and programmes mentioned in paragraph 3 above to take steps to rectify the situation in order to avoid another qualification during the next audit;

Reiterates its request that the Board of Auditors continue its audit coverage of all peacekeeping operations;

Approves all the recommendations and conclusions of the Board of Auditors and the comments thereon contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,14 subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Requests the Board of Auditors to indicate more clearly in its future reports those recommendations which have not been fully implemented and to point out, with greater precision, incidences of malpractice and violations of rules and regulations;

Also requests the Board of Auditors to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session proposals for improving the implementation, by the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the United Nations funds and programmes, of the recommendations of the Board, as approved by the Assembly, and for possible changes in reporting on the progress of such implementation;

Notes with concern the delays in the submission to the General Assembly, through the Advisory Committee, of the reports of the Board of Auditors and the reports of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the recommendations of the Board, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the necessary financial and administrative support is provided to assure the timeliness of the transmission of those reports in the future;

Requests the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the United Nations funds and programmes to provide timely responses to the recommendations of the Board of Auditors, and reiterates its request that the reports on measures taken or to be taken in response to the recommendations of the Board include timetables for their implementation;

Notes with deep concern the incidents of fraud and presumed fraud reported by the Board of Auditors;

Requests the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the organizations concerned to take the disciplinary measures necessary in cases of proven fraud and to enhance the individual accountability of United Nations personnel, including through stronger managerial control;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session on measures taken to enhance accountability;

Notes with satisfaction the improvement in internal audit functions and structures in the United Nations, including the level of professional expertise, and requests the executive heads of those funds and programmes which continue to suffer deficiencies in this regard to take appropriate corrective measures;

Emphasizes the need for greater transparency and stricter controls for trust funds, including by ensuring, in particular, that expenditure from trust funds is not incurred without receipt of the corresponding income or on the basis of reimbursement to other accounts or the regular budget;

Welcomes the efforts made by organizations in the biennium 1994-1995 to comply with the United Nations common accounting standards;

Notes, however, that further work needs to be done in the biennium 1996-1997 to bring the financial statements fully in line with the United Nations common accounting standards, and requests the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the United Nations organizations and programmes to pursue their efforts to ensure full compliance with those standards, regarding, in particular, disclosure of valuation of property and cash held in non-convertible currencies, calculation and disclosure of end-of-service liability for termination benefits and better disclosure of delays in the collection of assessed contributions;

Takes note of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors concerning budgetary assumptions used in the preparation of biennial programme budgets²¹ and the comments of the Secretary-General and the Advisory Committee thereon,²² and requests them to keep the matter under review;

²¹See A/51/488, paras. 6-11.

²²Ibid., paras. 6-13, and A/51/533, paras. 39 and 40.

Takes note also of the comments of the Board of Auditors on the need to improve performance reporting, and concurs with the recommendation of the Advisory Committee²³ that the Secretary-General should work towards improving the format of reports, in particular by providing more up-to-date information relating to actual expenditure figures;

²³A/51/533, para. 41.

Stresses the importance of the timely completion of the self-evaluation of subprogrammes, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure better coverage and monitoring of self-evaluations;

Requests the Board of Auditors, the Office of Internal Oversight Services and the Joint Inspection Unit to maintain and enhance, whenever possible, their cooperation, while respecting the clear distinction between internal and external oversight responsibilities;

Regrets that there was a steady decline in net income from revenue-producing activities during the biennium 1994-1995;

Also regrets that the United Nations Postal Administration and the services to visitors incurred net losses during the biennium 1994-1995, and requests the Secretary-General to take all necessary measures to redress the situation and to report thereon to the General Assembly;

Decides to consider the other substantive findings and recommendations of the Board of Auditors under the relevant agenda items, and decides also to consider in future, where appropriate, the substantive findings and recommendations of the Board under the relevant agenda items;

B

Expressing concern at the failure of some implementing and executing agencies to comply with funding and project agreements concluded with United Nations funds and programmes,

Notes with deep concern the serious irregular financial practices in the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements and the decision by the management of the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation to divert $900,000 from Foundation funds in order to meet the financing requirements for the preparatory activities of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II);²⁴

²⁴See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 5H (A/51/5/Add.8), sect. II, para. 13.

Draws the attention of the Commission on Human Settlements to those irregularities with a view to its requesting immediate corrective action at its sixteenth session;

Notes the actions taken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Executive Committee of the Programme of the High Commissioner at its forty-seventh session with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors;²⁵

²⁵See A/AC.96/869/Add.1, paras. 4-7; and A/51/12/Add.1 and Corr. 1, para. 25; see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 12A.

Welcomes initiatives taken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to improve the procedure for selecting implementing partners and auditing their activities, and emphasizes the need for improvement by other funds and programmes in the process of selecting implementing and executing partners;

Notes with grave concern the serious problems identified with regard to the United Nations Development Programme reserve for field accommodation;

Notes the actions taken by the Administrator and the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme at the first regular session of 1997 of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme and of the United Nations Population Fund with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors;²⁶

²⁶See DP/1997/3; DP/1997/6; and DP/1997/11, decision 97/3.

Notes also the actions taken by the Executive Director and the Executive Board of the United Nations Children's Fund at the first regular session of 1997 of the Executive Board with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors;²⁷

²⁷See E/1997/32 (Part I)-E/ICEF/1997/12 (Part I), sect. II.K; and ibid., sect. III, decision 1997/10, para. 2.

Takes note of the recommendation²⁸ that the United Nations Children's Fund review its policy of recording cash assistance in connection with programme expenditures for consistency with financial regulations and programme management procedures, and notes the finding that financial control over cash assistance was not being fully achieved;

²⁸See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 5B (A/51/5/Add.2), sect. II, para. 11 (a).

Takes note also of decision 19/26, adopted by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme on 7 February 1997, on the report of the Board of Auditors, and the Council's request that the Executive Director implement the necessary corrective actions recommended by the Board before the end of the biennium 1996-1997;

Notes with great concern the serious problems in the United Nations Environment Programme reported by the Board of Auditors, including the fact that eight out of twelve projects audited had suffered cost overruns and nine had undergone time overruns because of difficulties in identifying consultants;

Draws the attention of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme to those irregularities with a view to its requesting immediate corrective action at its next scheduled sessions;

Notes the actions taken by the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund and the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme and of the United Nations Population Fund with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors.²⁹

²⁹See DP/FPA/1997/4 and DP/1997/11, decision 97/2.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What else is in this group?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

A

B

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