UNITED NATIONS, March 14 (UPI) -- Global accountants Price Waterhouse Coopers will provide 8,000 pro bono hours to help the U.N. track how tsunami relief donations are being spent.
Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland provided details of the previously announced partnership Monday, saying it would help the United Nations make sure its relief work was accountable to donors.
He said the deal, worth "millions of dollars," would see PWC devote 1,000 hours to improving the existing U.N. system for tracking tsunami donations.
Another 7,000 hours will be used investigating any inappropriate spending.
"What we are striving for (are) new levels of accountability and transparency," Egeland told reporters at U.N. World Headquarters in New York.
Under the new tracking system, donors of the $977-million pledged to the U.N. Tsunami Flash Appeal will be able to go online to reliefweb.int/fts and see which projects were helped by their funds.
"My aunt can go in and can see how her money for UNICEF is being spent," Egeland said of the new system, to be launched in May.
