The second meeting of the ITU Council working group (WG) on Human and Financial Resources was held last 5-6 February in Geneva, chaired by Bruce Gracie of Canada. Its main goal was to revise the Union's proposed budget for the 2014-2015 biennium.
On that agenda point the member states called attention to the ITU's precarious financial situation, with negative equity of 166 million Swiss francs, and also to the fact that that budget was not balanced due to the use of 12.7 million Swiss francs from the reserve account. The proposed budget will be revised at the 2013 session of the ITU Council for approval.
Also discussed was a set of amendments to the Union’s financial regulations presented by the ITU secretariat, which the participants deemed very technical and hard to understand. An analysis of its impacts will therefore be prepared for consideration at the next session of the Union’s Council.
Note also the debate about recommendations from the Independent Management Advisory Committee (IMAC), especially the suggestion that the ITU's internal audit position be filled. The Secretary-General did not accept that recommendation, holding that it was micro-management. The meeting's participants nevertheless defended its implementation; the matter will be discussed again at the annual session (2013) of the ITU Council.
The gathering also focused on the ITU personnel report, noting major gender differences.
This WG will next meet in 2014.
