Internal audit and investigations
The Office of Internal Audit and Investigations (OIAI) is the cornerstone of the IFRC’s assurance arrangements. It supports us to uphold our Fundamental Principles and meet our obligations for good governance, accountability, transparency and integrity.
About OIAI
The Office of Internal Audit and Investigations (OIAI) is our independent and objective assurance and investigation function that helps enhance the operation of the IFRC and our members.
It supports us to accomplish our objectives by helping us evaluate and improve our governance, risk management and control processes in a systematic and disciplined way.
To ensure transparency and independence, the OIAI reports directly to:
- The Secretary General, to establish direction and to support him to discharge his accountability and integrity responsibilities to our Governing Board, stakeholders and donors.
- The Audit and Risk Commission, for strategic direction, reinforcement and accountability.
Functions of the OIAI
Internal audit
Investigations
External audits
Report disclosure
As part of the IFRC’s commitment to transparency and accountability, as of 2020 the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations provides an annual report of its activities to our stakeholders. This report details the scope of our activities, the schedule of work undertaken throughout the year, and an overview of the risks and trends emerging from OIAI’s work.
This new annual report also includes, for the first time, a summary and analysis of independent investigations conducted into alleged cases of fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment and misconduct.
The OIAI annual report replaces the publication of individual internal audit reports. Internal audit reports published since 2019 can be viewed in the related documents section below. You can also read our independent auditors' reports on our consolidated financial statements since 2016.
In addition, the IFRC discloses an annual consolidated external audit report within six months following the period being audited. We also publish individual audited financial statements of our appeals which can be accessed on our appeals page.
Supporting National Societies
The Office of Internal Audit and Investigations also provides support to National Societies to help them improve their governance, risk management and control processes:
- We are supporting a growing number of National Societies to adopt our whistleblower hotline and case management system, Integrity Line. This will enable them to manage and investigate allegations of fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment and misconduct more effectively and provide better support to people affected.
- We have rolled out a leading e-learning course for our staff in preventing fraud and corruption in humanitarian settings, along with a dedicated corruption prevention course for managers. These courses were developed in partnership with Transparency International Norway.
- We offer National Society staff who wish to do so the opportunity to study and take the exam to become a Certified Fraud Examiner, accredited by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).
- We also support National Society staff to undergo training in investigating sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) with the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) Alliance. The SEA investigation workshop demonstrates how to conduct fair, thorough and confidential investigations into complaints of staff misconduct, with a particular focus on allegations involving affected populations.
Our aim is to train as many staff as possible. And we are working to develop a pool of surge staff trained in PSEA and fraud to support Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies requesting additional support during emergency operations. Learn more about our surge system here.
Emergency Social Safety Net
Four young Syrian girls smile and laugh together in their new home in Turkey. Their family moved to the country in 2018 due to the ongoing civil war in Syria, and they receive monthly cash assistance as part of the Emergency Social Safety Net programme run by the IFRC and Turkish Red Crescent and funded by the European Union.
Photo: IFRC/Corrie Butler
In partnership with the Turkish Red Crescent Society, and with funding from the European Union, the IFRC is providing cash assistance to more than 1.8 million refugees living in Turkey through our Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) project. It is the largest programme ever implemented by the IFRC.
An independent audit team is embedded within the ESSN structure, reporting directly to the OIAI director, to support robust controls and effective risk management of the project.
The team produces an annual audit plan covering a range of risk areas including operating procedures and controls, procurement, finance and the end-to-end- cash cycle. It also conducts quarterly financial spot checks and household visits, delivered with the support of a third-party service provider.
Related documents
Office of Internal Audit and Investigations 2022 Annual Report
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Independent Auditors’ Report, Consolidated Financial Statements 2022
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Office of Internal Audit and Investigations Annual Report 2021
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External Quality Assessment: Audit services provided by the IFRC Office of Internal Audit & Investigation (OIAI)
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Use of reports and queries
The use of information contained in internal audit reports will be subject to the IFRC disclaimer. The IFRC will not respond to public queries concerning audit reports.