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.

 

Activities and functions of OIOS

OIOS' activities reflect the various methods used to ensure adequate oversight coverage of the Organization's resources. In fulfilling its internal independent oversight mandate, OIOS undertakes the following activities:

- Internal Audit
- Investigation
- Monitoring
- Evaluation
- Inspection
- Reporting
- Support

OIOS is divided into three main divisions, each of which carries out different parts of the OIOS mandate:

- Internal Audit Division
- Investigations Division
- Inspection and Evaluation Division

The findings and recommendations arising from OIOS activities are communicated via reports to the responsible programme managers directly or through the Secretary-General to the General Assembly. OIOS has started classifying certain recommendations as critical to encourage improvements in areas that have far-reaching consequences for the Organization. Internal audit and investigations traditionally issue the highest number of recommendations, while inspection and evaluation recommendations are often a result of broader programme assessments.