Internal Audit
The internal audit function provides independent and objective assurance and advisory services designed to add value and improve the operations of UNICEF.
The OIAI internal audit function helps UNICEF accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of governance, risk management and control processes.
OIAI’s annual work plan covers a wide range of UNICEF’s activities. OIAI uses a risk-based approach to select areas and offices for audit. The work plan is flexible and can be adapted to address emerging trends and issues within UNICEF.
Our Management Team
Deputy Director, Internal Audit
Eva joined UNICEF after leading the global internal audit activities for the International Office for Migration (IOM). Previously, she was responsible for the oversight of the Global Fund portfolio managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in North, West, and Central Africa, and as Quality Assurance and Policy Manager for all activities and outputs of the Office. Earlier, she worked as an audit director in the international private sector and as a lawyer in Athens, Greece. Eva holds a bachelor’s degree in law (LL.B), a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and is a Fellow Certified Chartered Accountant (FCCA). She is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and holds certifications in risk management (CRMA), government auditing (CGAP), information technology auditing (CISA), and is currently pursuing the fraud examiner’s certification (ACFE).
Kari Swarbrick, Chief, Internal Audit, New York
Kari joined UNICEF in October 2023 as Chief Internal Audit. She has close to 30 years of audit and investigation experience. For five years immediately before joining UNICEF, Kari was Chief Audit Executive at the Department of Finance Canada, responsible for leading the Department’s Internal Audit Directorate. Kari’s experience includes time at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG). She also spent nearly 15 years as an external audit Director with the OAG, where she led performance audits of federal and territorial governments. In addition to her audit experience, in the late 1990s, Kari spent several years investigating lawyers with the Law Society of Upper Canada. Kari is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) with several other professional auditing certifications. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Law and Justice and a Master of Public Administration degree.
Judith Sanders, Chief, Internal Audit, New York
Judith joined UNICEF in September 2021 as part of the management team leading the strategic development of the global Internal Audit section. Judith has over 20 years’ international risk management, audit and governance experience, spanning a wide range of sectors, geographies and cultures. A former Group Audit Director of a listed multinational, in 2012 she turned her focus to the international not-for-profit sector, as Head of Risk & Assurance of WWF International. In 2018, she became a consultant to Geneva-based INGOs, including GAVI, providing internal audit support and strategic advice to achieve mission-critical goals. Beginning in March 2021, she managed GAVI’s COVAX-related governance activities. A British national, Judith speaks English, French and German. She is a Graduate of Oxford University, a UK Chartered Accountant and Member of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors.
Vijay Venkatesh, Chief, Internal Audit, Nairobi
Vijay joined UNICEF in April 2024. Vijay has diverse experience leading and managing audits at private sector companies as well as the United Nations. Previously, Vijay was a part of the senior audit management team at Microsoft where he was accountable for strategic management of cybersecurity and privacy audits and risks pertaining to ethics of Artificial Intelligence in a complex, fast-growing business landscape. At UN Agencies such as UNFPA and UNRWA, Vijay led and managed oversight teams providing assurance on various programmatic initiatives and associated operational processes. Prior to joining UNICEF, Vijay worked as Head of Internal Audit at the International Renewable Energy Agency. Vijay’s accomplishments include spearheading the gradual transformation of oversight functions, strengthening governance and institutional frameworks, and developing approaches for integrated assurance and synergies across oversight functions. Vijay is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Information Systems Auditor with broad skillsets across audits, administrative investigations, enterprise risk management and strategic ethical governance.
Rebeca Sistal Moreno, Officer in Charge, Internal Audit, Budapest
Rebeca joined UNICEF in 2019. Rebeca has a versatile and polyvalent professional and academic background and global experience spanning management roles in internal audit, financial administration, business and project management, and computer science in UN, public and private sector organizations and in different countries and business sectors. She holds a bachelor’s and post graduate degrees in computers and technology from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; management degrees from IESE (Madrid) and Columbia University (New York); an IPSAS diploma; and CIA, CISA, CRMA and CFE certifications. She is an active member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).
Scope of Work
OIAI assesses whether UNICEF’s governance, risk management and control processes provide reasonable assurance that:
- resources are acquired economically and used efficiently;
- assets are safeguarded;
- activities comply with regulations, rules, policies, procedures, directives, administrative instructions and contracts;
- financial, managerial and operating information is accurate, reliable and timely; and
- programmes, plans and business objectives are achieved (excluding evaluation activities that fall within the scope of the UNICEF Evaluation Office).
Types of Internal Audits
OIAI conducts a range of different audits, including audits of country offices, regional offices, headquarters divisions and thematic areas. OIAI may also issue summary reports highlighting cross-cutting issues identified from different country office audits.
Advisory Services
The nature and scope of OIAI advisory services are agreed with management. Such services may involve advice and analyses to promote improvements in governance, risk management and control processes, with OIAI taking care to ensure that its independence and objectivity are not compromised.
External Audit and the Single Audit Principle
UNICEF is subject to external audit exclusively by the United Nations Board of Auditors (UNBoA) in accordance with the UNICEF Financial Regulations, established by the UNICEF Executive Board. The UNBoA undertakes its audits of UNICEF in accordance with its own risk model and audit plan.
In accordance with the Single Audit Principle, UNICEF is not in a position to entertain requests for audits by individual Member States or others and is not in a position to offer the services of the UNBoA or OIAI to conduct specific audits outside either entity’s audit plan. Reports of audits by the UNBoA are public documents, available on the UNBoA website, as are OIAI's internal audit reports, available on this website.
Professional standards
Internal audit work is conducted in accordance with the guidance for the practice of internal auditing in the International Professional Practices Framework as promulgated by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).
The IIA standards were adopted for use by the United Nations Representatives of Internal Audit Services (UN-RIAS), in June 2002. OIAI also follows the reporting standards of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).
Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement
The Office maintains a quality assurance and improvement programme that covers all aspects of internal audit activities and lifecycles. This includes internal quality assessments that involve ongoing performance monitoring and periodic reviews, and external quality assessments that are usually conducted every five years by a qualified external independent reviewer or review team.
An External Quality Assessment (EQA) review of our internal audit function was done in 2019. The assessment concluded that “Internal Audit generally conforms with the Standards and the IIA Code of Ethics. This level of conformance is the top rating and demonstrates a clear intent and commitment to achieving the Core Principles for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (“Core Principles”) and the Definition of Internal Auditing.”