The Board of Auditors audited the financial statements for the biennium 1996-1997 and undertook a management audit of UNFCCC conference support arrangements. The full text of the report of the United Nations Board of Auditors, including the financial statements as at 31 December 1997 which was received by the secretariat on 25 September 1998, is included and reproduced as received without formal editing. The summary ofthe report by the Board of Auditors, along with the reply by the secretariat to the audit observations and its report on the status of implementation of the recommendations, is contained in document FCCC/CP/1998/10