A/RES/55/231 4. Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee,2 subject to the provisions of the present resolution; 5. Notes that the measures proposed by the Secretary-General and recommended by the Advisory Committee are intended to provide, in essence, a management tool that should enhance responsibility and accountability in the implementation of programmes and budgets; 6. Decides that these measures, as approved by the General Assembly in the present resolution, should be implemented in a gradual and incremental manner, in full compliance with the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation and the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations; 7. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the expected accomplishments and indicators of achievement are directly and clearly linked to the objectives of the programmes and in accordance with the different nature of the activities of the programmes, taking into account rules 104.7 (a) and 105.4 (a) of the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning; 8. Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that expected accomplishments, indicators of achievement and objectives are defined, bearing in mind the direct link between inputs and outputs, and that inputs are commensurate with the needs of programmes, and taking into consideration the international character of the United Nations, the purposes of its Charter and its legislative mandates, as well as the fact that the objectives of the Organization may not be realized in one medium-term plan only; 9. Further requests the Secretary-General to ensure that, in presenting the programme budget, expected accomplishments and, where possible, indicators of achievement are included to measure achievements in the implementation of the programmes of the Organization and not those of individual Member States; 10. Stresses in this regard the need for continued improvement in the formulation of objectives, expected accomplishments and indicators of achievement with the full involvement of the relevant intergovernmental bodies; 11. Decides that the design of programme objectives in the context of the medium-term plan and in the programme budget should be enhanced as a key element of results-based budgeting, in order to reflect in a more accurate manner the mandates, policy objectives, orientation and priorities of the Organization, taking into account regulation 4.2 and rule 104.7 (e) of the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning; 12. Requests the Secretary-General to keep the definition of terms and guidelines under review and to bring the question of definitions to the attention of the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, with a view to obtaining the views and comments of the appropriate bodies of the United Nations system of organizations in order to arrive at an agreed set of key terms and guidelines pertaining to the results-based format of the budget within the United Nations system; 13. Stresses that external factors specific to the objectives and expected accomplishments should be identified in the proposed programme budget and that assessment of performance should reflect, and not be distorted by, the impact of unforeseen external factors; 2