Organisation
Hoffnungszeichen tendersglobal.net Sign of Hope e.V.
www.hoffnungszeichen.de, www.sign-of-hope.org
Position
Auditor
Type of Contract
Short-term consultancy
Type of Audit
In depth
Location
Home-based with field mission travel to Marsabit, Kenya
Languages Required
English and Kiswahili
Application Deadline
3rd November 2024
Starting Date
27th January 2025
Auditing Period
From 1st October 2023 to 31st December 2024
Project Title
Capacity building for cross-border cooperation on food security, livelihoods and peacebuilding
Total Project Budget
1,333,333 Euros
Annual Project Budget
465,857 Euros
Hoffnungszeichen tendersglobal.net Sign of Hope e.V. (SoH) is announcing an open tender procedure for external independent financial audit services in Kenya.
Background and Organisational Setting
SoH is a Christian motivated organisation for Human Rights, Humanitarian Assistance and Development Cooperation. Based in Constance, Germany, SoH is dedicated to helping those in distress and exploited people worldwide.
An audit is commissioned under the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) funding guidelines for development projects run by private German executing agencies.
SoH will be the private German executing agency and the contracting party, with Caritas Marsabit, Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar, and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO) being the local implementing agencies.
The goal of this project is to contribute to food security and peaceful coexistence of agro-pastoralists and pastoralists in the border region between Kenya and Ethiopia. The project targets hard to reach and marginalized Pastoralist and agro-pastoralists living in hard to reach cross border area. Weak Humanitarian, Development and Peace (HDP) nexus characterize the area bordering Ethiopia and Kenya. The project targets 94,325 pastoralists and agro-pastoralist living in Marsabit and Turkana Counties (Kenya) and South Omo and Borana zone (Ethiopia). As a result, the marginalized and hard to reach pastoralists and agro pastoralists living across the border are characterized by chronic humanitarian conditions that are further exacerbated by poor/lack of developmental initiatives compounded by chronic resource (pasture and water) based conflicts leading to loss of lives and livelihood, limited capacity and coordination among partners across the border and climate related shocks. There is persistent and unacceptably high food and nutrition insecurity, poor livelihood options and social (health and education) services, as well as poor livestock marketing and limited financial services. Also, 85% of the population in the target areas live on a below average annual income. The area is being affected by recurring drought due to both natural disasters (climate change-induced) and man-made (overgrazing, and deforestation for firewood and charcoal). To address these interrelated factors the project will develop and strengthen cross border coordination for HDP triple nexus actors, establish and/or strengthen multi-level peace building and advocacy structures and promote livelihoods(village saving and lending associations and promotion of livestock marketing).
Audit Objectives
The purpose of the in-depth audit is to provide SoH with a sound basis for its accountability, transparency and accuracy in the financial disclosure towards the funding agency BMZ. The tasks of this recruitment relate to:
- An annual audit, with a detailed examination of all the supporting documents for the period of 01.10.2023 – 31.12.2023 and 01.01.2024 – 31.12.2024
This in-depth audit will verify the compliance with standards of the funding agency BMZ, SoH, national regulations and the international accounting standards (ISA).
The auditor will review the project’s financial documents, receipts lists, records of transactions, all vouchers and receipts disbursed, and relevant project documents in order to come up with a professional, independent opinion on the financial accounting of the project ; Capacity building for cross-border cooperation on food security, livelihoods and peacebuilding for all funds received and expended by Caritas Marsabit,Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar, and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO) from 1st October 2023 to 31st December 2024.
Additionally, the audit shall give recommendations on strengths, weaknesses, and required improvement in the project-related financial and human resources management systems of ; Caritas Marsabit,Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar, and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO) .
The audit will support the project quality assurance measures implemented by SoH and contribute to the decision-making process with regard to the project management and monitoring of finances by SoH and Caritas Marsabit,Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar, and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO)
Expected Deliverables
The auditor is expected to produce an audit report, an audit certificate and a management letter, which will comprise the following:
- Presentation of the scope and mandate of the audit, as well as the list of documents that formed the evidence for the audit,
- An opinion whether financial statements (statement of accounts broken down for each year being audited ) are issued in accordance with the financial reporting framework of the project, BMZ requirements and an internationally recognized accounting standard,
- A checked, signed and stamped list of all project costs receipts, sorted by BMZ budget lines (list is provided by the local implementing partners).
- Recommendations on identified shortcomings, and, if applicable, comments on the follow-up of audit observations and recommendations from previous years.
Audit documents can be issued in English or German.
Scope of the Audit
The audit should focus on the following:
- The correctness and completeness of the accounting records,
- The financial report, showing all project related income and expenditure structured by budget lines,
- Deviations of expenditure by budget lines. The expenditure, which exceeds or falls below the budget appropriations by more than 30 %, shall be explained separately, if the approval of the BMZ has not previously been obtained,
- That receipts and relevant supporting documents are available for all project related income and expenditures,
- The management of the funds made available, which includes the transfer of project funds, all interest earned from the project funds during the reporting period and further income generated by the project,
- Reviewing the appropriate use of funds according to the project objectives,
- Evaluation of the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the usage of funds,
- Budget adherence through the comparison between budgeted and actual costs in the currency in which the expenditure was incurred. The audit report will not convert the examined amounts into the Euro amounts,
- Reviewing if personnel costs and social security contributions conform to the regulations in the project country and are locally comparable,
- The economical use of the project equipment and assets,
- The inventory and the use of capital items, their whereabouts and their purposive usage,
- Compliance with the legal framework of the project (project agreements and annexes, contracts, etc.) and the donor requirements,
- Compliance with the policies of the local implementing partner regarding procurement, financial administration, human resources management and travel.
Procedures and Communication
The auditor will be given access to all necessary documents in the project offices through the local implementing partners; Caritas Marsabit,Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar, and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO) as well as relevant donor documents through SoH.
The auditor will be responsible to set up a schedule in agreement with the local implementing partners: Caritas Marsabit, Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO).Any expenses for field trips, postal and translation services and other expenses shall be included in the auditor’s proposed budget. Caritas Marsabit will support the auditor with logistics and arrangements, however, all payments of the contract will be made directly by SoH.
Qualifications and Experience
- Necessary qualification to serve as a recognized independent auditing authority,
- Minimum of five (5) years of experience conducting external independent audits of projects funded by international institutional donors in Kenya and Ethiopia.
- Experience in conducting audits for BMZ-funded projects is beneficial.
How to apply
Application Process
Please submit the following documents as PDF files with the subject line “Audit in Marsabit, Kenya” to procurement@sign-of-hope.org no later than 3rd November 2024 23:59 EAT.
- Technical Proposal (as per Terms of Reference above) of no more than 2 pages, including approach and methodology to be used,
- A financial proposal (EUR),
- A qualification certificate of a recognized independent auditing authority as confirmed by a relevant institution in the project country (for example, a chamber of commerce, national association of auditors or another relevant organisation),
- A reference list of three previous customers.
Companies as well as independent auditors are invited for this tender. Female and differently abled candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
Please note that due to a large number of applications we may limit establishing contact to shortlisted applicants.
Bids received after deadline will not be considered. If offers are incomplete, bidders may be able to hand in missing documents within a deadline upon request by SoH.
The selection of the auditor will be conducted jointly by Caritas Marsabit, Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar, and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO)and SoH. Interviews with shortlisted candidates will be held online in the week of 18th to 22nd November 2024.
The audit agreement will be set up by SoH and Caritas Marsabit, Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia(SCORE), Caritas Lodwar, and Coordination Office of the Social and Development Commission of the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC-SDCO) . Audit agreements set up by auditors won’t be accepted.
Criteria and weighting for the evaluation of the submitted proposals:
- Essential and desirable competencies, proposed methodology: 40 %
- Financial proposal (fee): 30 %
- Performance during interview: 20 %
- Minimum amount of years of relevant experience: 5 %
- Language skills: 5 %