A/RES/51/226 Page 11 VI. CONSULTANTS Having considered the summary of the principal findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Board of Auditors12 and the related comments of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,13 Noting with deep concern that, despite repeated recommendations by the Board, serious irregularities persist in the identification, terms of reference, hiring, remuneration and management of consultants, including lack of geographical balance, 1. Expresses its concern about the practice of using consultants to carry out functions assigned to established posts, and requests the SecretaryGeneral to refrain from this practice; 2. Notes with concern the observations of the Board of Auditors that a number of findings warrant further investigation with a view to taking appropriate action against personnel responsible for such malpractice,14 and requests the Secretary-General to take appropriate action in this regard and to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session; 3. Requests the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the United Nations organizations and programmes to ensure selection of consultants on a more competitive basis and to keep the instances of recourse to sole candidates to a strict minimum, each such case being formally approved at an appropriate level of authority, on an exceptional basis, prior to engagement; 4. Also requests the Secretary-General to prepare, no later than the end of 1997, comprehensive policy guidelines on the terms of reference (including objectives, targets and output delivery dates), selection, hiring and renewal of consultants and ensuring transparency and objectivity in the selection process, and to submit those guidelines to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions for review before their consideration by the General Assembly at its fifty-second session under the item entitled "Financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors"; 5. Further requests the Secretary-General to revise the assessment form on consultants to make it more detailed and more clearly indicative of the quality of the consultant's work and his or her ability to undertake future assignments; 6. Endorses the recommendations made by the Board of Auditors in its report,15 and requests the Secretary-General to implement them; 7. Also endorses the recommendation of the Advisory Committee that the Secretariat resume the past practice of submitting, on a biennial basis and in conjunction with the report requested by the Committee on the hiring of 12 A/51/283, annex. 13 See A/51/533. 14 Ibid., para. 31. 15 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 5 (A/51/5), vol. I, sect. II, paras. 155-189. /...