News Brief No. 99/80

News Brief: IMF Appoints External Audit Firm, Names New External Audit Committee

December 6, 1999

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as its external audit firm for a five-year period, starting with financial year 2000, and at the same time named the three members of its External Audit Committee (EAC): Mr. K. N. Memani of India, Chairman and Country managing partner of S.R. Batliboi & Co., a member firm of Ernst & Young International; Mr. Giorgio Loli of Italy, Professor of Accounting at the Bocconi University in Milan and an independent consultant who previously was with KPMG for 34 years; and Mr. Juan Humud Giacaman of Chile, Chairman of Ernst and Young Chile and Director of banking and financial services.

The IMF's external audit arrangements were changed in the current financial year by shifting the formal responsibility for the external audit from the EAC to the external audit firm, and giving the EAC an oversight role in the audit process. The external audit firm is selected by the Executive Board of the IMF in consultation with the EAC.

To assist the Executive Board in the selection process, IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus appointed an Audit Selection Committee, consisting of Executive Directors and senior staff, to identify suitable candidates for the EAC and for evaluating proposals from external audit firms bidding for the IMF's external audit contract. The committee reached a consensus on its recommendations concerning both elements of external audit, leading to the selections of the EAC and the external audit firm.