Article 27 Auditing of accounts

§ 1 In the absence of a contrary decision by the General Assembly pursuant to Article 14 § 2, letter k), the auditing of accounts shall be carried out by the Headquarters State, according to the rules laid down in this Article and, subject to any special directives of the Administrative Committee, in conformity with the Financial and Accounting Regulation of the Organisation (Article 15 § 5, letter e)).

§ 2 The Auditor shall audit the accounts of the Organisation, including all the trust funds and special accounts, as he considers necessary in order to ensure:

§ 3 The Auditor shall have unrestricted access, at any time, to all ledgers, accounts, accounting documents and other information which he considers needful.

§ 4 In his report on the financial transactions, the Auditor shall mention:

a) the nature and extent of the audit which he has carried out;

b) factors connected with the completeness or correctness of the accounts, including as appropriate:

1. information necessary for the correct interpretation and assessment of the accounts;

2. any sum which ought to have been collected but which has not been passed to account;

3. any sum which has been the subject of a regular or conditional expenditure commitment and which has not been posted or which has not been taken into account in the financial statements;

4. expenditure in support of which no sufficient vouchers have been produced;

5. whether or not ledgers have been kept in good and due form; it is necessary to note cases where the material presentation of the financial statements diverges from accounting principles generally recognised and

invariably applied;

c) other matters to which the attention of the Administrative Committee should be drawn, for example:

1. cases of fraud or presumption of fraud;

2. wastage or irregular use of funds or other assets of the Organisation (even when the accounts relating to the transaction carried out were in order);

3. expenditure which could subsequently lead to considerable costs for the Organisation;

4. any defects, general or particular, in the system of checking receipts and expenses or supplies and equipment;

5. expenditure not in conformity with the intentions of the Administrative Committee, taking account of transfers duly authorised within the draft budget;

6. overstepping of appropriations, taking account of changes resulting from transfers duly authorised within the draft budget;

7. expenditure not in conformity with the authorisations which govern it;

d) the correctness or incorrectness of the accounts relating to supplies and equipment, established from the inventory and the examination of the ledgers.

In addition, the report may mention transactions which have been posted in the course of an earlier budgetary period and about which new information has been obtained or transactions which are to be carried out in the course of a later financial period and about which it seems desirable to inform the Administrative Committee in advance.

§ 5 The Auditor shall inform the Administrative Committee and the Secretary General of the findings of the audit. He may, in addition, submit any comments that he considers appropriate about the financial report of the Secretary General.