In an effort to ensure better audits for UNDP funded and nationally implemented projects UNDP held its first ever “formal” briefing meeting with auditors.

 

Opening the meeting on 7th of April 2009, Mr. Athman Kakiva the Deputy Resident Representative in charge of Operations thanked the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and the various private auditing firms for agreeing to take part in the UNDP/IP audits.

 

He informed the auditors that audits were important to UNDP’s work because they showed how well their projects with government and other IPs were performing.

 

He also let them know that UNDP programmes were usually carried out together with the government (its major IP) and sometimes a few NGOs came in to help. The projects are quite a number hence annual audits were very important in ensuring that they were running smoothly.

 

Mr. Kakiva told the auditors that a briefing meeting such as the one held was important to clear out any minor variations that arise from different understanding of the process, guidelines and the Terms of Reference by the various auditing firms.

 

“The projects are quite a number, that’s why we need more than one auditor, this briefing is therefore important so that everyone knows what UNDP expects and is also able to share what they need from UNDP to ease their work,” he said.

 

He reminded the auditors that the timelines were very tight hence they needed to be adhered to, to ensure that the audits reports were ready with the stipulated time.

 

The audit reports are expected to be ready by the end of May 2009.

 

Mr. Stephen Kateregga the director of audit in OAG also thanked UNDP for taking time out to brief them. He said that they had already started work and a work plan had already been drawn for the entire audit process.

 

He requested UNDP to ensure that they have all the required materials for the auditing, which will help them to finish within the stipulated timelines.

 

He also informed the participants that OAG would be participating in the exit meetings as part of its office’s new requirements for supervising private firms, UNDP also promised to take part in some of these meetings.

 

Presentations on the audit guidelines, scope and timelines were made by Jamilah Diallo Sow and Augustine Wandera of the UNDP Management Support UNDP. They also highlighted the roles and responsibilities of each party in the audit process.  

 

Closing the workshop on behalf of Mary Symmonds, UNDP’s Country Director, Augustine Wandera, emphasised the importance of quality work and promised that UNDP would support them throughout the auditing process.