United Nations: Management Reforms Progressing Slowly with Many Awaiting General Assembly Review

In response to GAO's recommendation, the State Department stated it is committed to improving the effectiveness, accountability, and transparency of the United Nations (UN), while seeking to avoid excessive micromanagement of the UN Secretariat by member states. State agrees that the Secretariat should be held accountable for implementing management reforms and is working with other member states towards ensuring that a transparent reporting mechanism to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is established. State indicates that in its capacity as a member state and a key member of the UNGA Fifth Committee, which deals with administrative and budgetary issues, it takes into account the costs of management reforms and reports to the UNGA on such matters. Consistent with its interest in improving management within the UN Secretariat and throughout the UN system, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York, with the support of State's Bureau of International Organizations in Washington, launched a management reform initiative called the United Nations Transparency and Accountability Initiative (UNTAI) in 2007. UNTAI is designed to focus on a variety of key management and oversight issues stressing enhanced and transparent financial management including accurate and reliable cost estimates as well as timeframes for implementation and completion. State maintains that it has achieved some success on these matters within the UN Secretariat and the UNGA since the issuance of our report. State recently launched an UNTAI Phase II Initiative that will address management reform issues including cost, timeframes, and benchmarks within the UN Secretariat and in the broader UN System, including UN Funds, Programs, and Sepcialized Agencies. In its 2008 Annual Report to Congress on UN Operations, State indicated that it had been instrumental in the establishment and operation of key UN management reform initiatives, including the Independent Audit Advisory Committee and the Ethics Office. It also reported that it had been influential in the UNGA approving, among other reform agenda items, improved UN financial management practices such as the implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards. In July 2011, State indicated that it had been influential in the UNGA reducing operating costs in Human Resource Harmonization in both the Secretariat and UN Funds, Programs, and Specialized Agencies, which has been a major management reform issue. In an August 2011 update to GAO on actions taken to implement our recommendation, State cited its efforts to have the Independent Audit Advisory Committee report its annual operating costs. It also cited a successful effort to have the newly established Ethics Office provide information on its operating costs and timeframes. Overall, State has encouraged UN management reform officials to establish important timeframes for operational milestones and report annual costs while endeavoring to implement a variety of cost controls. Despite State's efforts to promote timeliness and cost effectiveness in the ways described above, progress on the implementation of the entire UN management reform agenda remains slow, uneven, and incomplete.

Since the issuance of our report, State issued annual reports to Congress on United Nations (UN) operations. In these reports, State address the status of UN management reform in some detail, providing information critical to the progress of management reform specifically in the areas of transparency, reporting, and accountability. The 2008 and 2009 State Department Annual Reports to Congress on UN Operations were particularly noteworthy for their detailed review of UN management reform status and progress.