WMO AUDIT COMMITTEE: TWO STEPS FORWARD

UNCLAS GENEVA 001097 SIPDIS SENSITIVE USDOC FOR NOAA FOR VNADOLSKI, CCORVINGTON STATE FOR IO/GS FOR RDISSELKOEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: WMO AORC EFIN KUNR SENV SUBJECT: WMO AUDIT COMMITTEE: TWO STEPS FORWARD SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Audit Committee (AC) welcomed further progress on management reforms, but challenged the Secretariat to close the books on many partially completed recommendations from both the internal and external auditors. AC stressed to the Secretariat that it expected results and a more proactive approach to addressing the implementation of recommendations. AC members held an in-camera session of principles only to determine the best way forward. This Audit Committee meeting showed members at their best, engaging in critical, yet constructive, dialogue with the WMO Secretariat. END SUMMARY. -------------- MEMBERS WANT CLOSURE AND CONTROL -------------- ¶2. (U) WMO's Audit Committee (AC) held its 13th meeting in Geneva October 26-27, 2009, to continue to promote management reform and improvements in internal controls. AC noted progress in many areas and welcomed the Secretariat's sustained efforts to address the shortcomings cited in the numerous audits, internal and external, conducted in recent years. At the same time, AC was not fully satisfied with the pace of efforts in some areas and delays in implementation. AC members requested an in-camera session (a meeting of principle members only) to discuss how members, rather than the SG, could drive the agenda. The members agreed that transparency was lacking in some of the details presented by the Secretariat relative to implementation of the internal auditor's recommendations. ¶3. (U) The issue of greatest concern to the AC was a suggestion by the SG that many of the auditors' recommendations were not practical or realistic and, consequently, would not be implemented. This statement was not well received by the AC members, but the SG deflected criticism somewhat by saying that as a "living list," recommendations would be closed and new ones added such that at no given time was 100 percent implementation achievable. The AC members proceeded to review each of the 31 outstanding recommendations and requested that, in future lists, new columns be added to the side of each recommendation that would show the date of the recommendation, the current status of implementation, the responsible party and the expected date of closure. The good news was that in the process of this group exercise, a number of recommendations were declared closed by the internal auditor and the AC members gained insight into the complex issue of "ownership" of implementation through the WMO. ¶4. (SBU) During the in-camera meeting, the AC members discussed the value of beginning future AC meetings with an in-camera session in order to candidly discuss issues without observers present. AC members unanimously agreed to future in-camera sessions and to provide more input into the agenda of future audit committee meetings. -------------- COMMENT: -------------- ¶5. (SBU) No one can question that WMO has made significant reforms since its experience with fraud and corruption in 2003, but the review of recommendations showed that their work continues. A 2006 AC reporting cable stating that although WMO leadership is ""talking the talk" and "walking the walk" when it comes to reform, "yet it is not clear how far their legs will carry them" is just as true today as it was then. The WMO SG has inferred that he is tired of walking, particularly as he feels that they have more or less reached their destination. Fortunately, the members of the 13th AC meeting reinvigorated the reform process and are actively steering the WMO towards an organizational culture that implements reform recommendations as readily as it predicts the weather. GRIFFITHS#