Expenses By Enabling Functions

This page provides further disaggregation of expenses of UN entities by function into those that represent enabling and non-enabling functions. The common definition of enabling functions approved by the CEB’s Finance and Budget Network for the UN system is as follows:

Enabling functions relate to services and associated costs which are typically provided corporately by headquarter and regional level business units, including service centers, to promote the identity, direction, and well-being of an organization to collectively enable the organization to deliver its mandated programmes and normative agendas.

These are indirect functions and associated costs which cannot be readily or easily traced to specific ‘progammes’ and generally include the following corporate functions: executive direction, strategy, representation, external relations and partnerships; communications; policy and advisory services, legal affairs; oversight; audit, evaluation, information technology, finance, administration, procurement, security, and human resources. Enabling functions exclude activities of country offices.

Please note that the figure for total expenses by enabling and non-enabling function in 2024 does not match the total expenses published by the CEB for 2024 due to one entity not submitting their expense by enabling function data.