Presentation of UNIDO audit findings results to the Industrial Development Board, meetings with Li Yong, the UNIDO Director General, and Margit Kraker, INTOSAI Secretary General, and nomination of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation as an external auditor of the UN World Food Programme. We report on Aleksei Kudrin working trip to Vienna.

The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation has audited an international organization for the first time ever – the 2020 UNIDO audit.

“We conducted three types of audit – financial, performance and IT. It should be noted that, today, the field of information technology deserves special attention, given the growing number of technologies and tools in use. Employees moving into remote working adds risks to cybersecurity”,

- noted Aleksei Kudrin, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, when defending the report at UNIDO.

The Russian audit team has also developed a four-year work plan for the international body. It covers key audit areas and takes into account the organization specifics, key processes and projects, risks and management expectations of UNIDO member countries, at the same time targeting the sustainable development goals. 

Another highlight was the online meeting with the representatives of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and nomination of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation as the organization External Auditor for 2022–2028.

“The experience of conducting many joint and parallel audits with other SAIs, and use of modern tools allow us, in a pandemic environment, to conduct audits remotely while meeting deadlines and maintaining the high quality of our work,”

Aleksei Kudrin stressed in his address.

The Accounts Chamber team plans to audit WFP on a similar basis as the audit of UNIDO:

“We have divided the audit into two key areas: a financial audit and a performance audit. The performance audit includes an IT audit and an audit of the organization regional offices. In addition, our audit team includes specialists from various fields, this enabling us to become not just an auditor for the WFP but also a business partner and advisor. We can help the organization to improve its internal processes, increase its operating efficiency and find new areas for development,”

stated Aleksei Kudrin.

During his working trip to Austria Aleksei Kudrin, as Chair of INTOSAI, met with Margit Kraker, INTOSAI Secretary General. The discussion focused on the development of the INTOSAI University (U-INTOSAI), an open online platform providing educational courses on auditing and public administration from around the world. This platform is intended as one of the Organization key projects for raising the professionalism of the international audit community. The discussion also covered other initiatives as part of the Russian Accounts Chamber Chairmanship of INTOSAI. Over eighteen months, new challenges have emerged and new competencies need to be consolidated and developed.

*The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's biggest international humanitarian organization dedicated to providing immediate food assistance to victims of natural disasters or armed conflicts, and to supporting development projects, especially in low-income, chronically food insecure countries.