1. INTRODUCTION
Counselling Line for Women and Girls (CLWG) requests you to conduct an Audit concerning the Project ADC – 8369-00/2019 in Albania implemented by CLWG and funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).
2. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
The financial audit of projects (“financial audit”) is to be carried out by an independent, certified auditor (“the auditor”), having the required professional competence and experience (e.g., Certification by National Audit Oversight Authority), and in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA)
These Terms of Reference (“TOR”) define the mandate of the auditor in connection with the financial audit of projects/programs of the partner, financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). The financial audit is based on the professional requirements and guidelines governing the professional work to be undertaken by an auditor.
In planning, conducting and reporting on the financial audit, the auditor must follow the ISA standards.
In addition, the relevant standards of the local accounting profession as well as the local legislation on accounting and reporting in force in Albania need to be taken into consideration by the auditor.
3. BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
The project aims to sustainably prevent the gender-based violence in Albania through an effective institutional response and establishment of a sustainable system for addressing the needs of women and girls, victims of Domestic Violence (DV)/Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Albania. The project aims to build local institutional mechanism and increase their capacities in addressing DV/GBV, and improve the conditions for the implementation of the legislation and strategies aiming towards zero tolerance of DV and GBV. The project targets three Municipalities in Albania, namely Rrogozhinë, Divjakë and Devoll.
The project aims to achieve the below five (5) Expected Results:
Expected Result 1: Cross-sectorial referral mechanisms (RM) in Municipalities of Rrogozhinë, Divjakë and Devoll established. The capacities of local actors who are part of referral mechanisms to address and manage cases of DV/GBV will be improved in addressing Violence Against Women (VAW) in Albania at central and local level.
Expected Result 2: Capacities of professionals in justice institutions, prison, probation, bailiffs, police, health institutions, working with the perpetrators of GBV and DV strengthened.
Expected Result 3: Increased contribution and strengthened capacities of media professionals from different media outlets in shaping DV/GBV related behaviors, practices and attitudes towards GBV/DV phenomena and human rights, by focusing on transformative approaches that aim to improve the understanding and attitudes of the public and especially youth regarding women human rights and gender equality.
Expected Result 4: Increased awareness and knowledge of men and boys as agents of change in combating DV/GBV through introduction of innovative education/prevention approaches and involvement of teachers and religious leaders.
Expected Result 5: Women and girls DV/GBV survivors are supported and assisted through the CLWG-run National Hotline.
The target group of the project are DV and GBV survivors, young girls and boys, professionals from municipalities, health institutions, education institutions, community centers, non-government service providers, law enforcement and police offices in the target municipalities. The project will work closely with men and boys, women and girls, and aims to reach 8,000 direct beneficiaries.
The project duration is 3 years (01/07/2019 – 30/06/2022). The budget of the project is EUR 344.962,48 where EUR 310.466,23 (90%) are funded by ADA and EUR 34.496,25 (10%) are co-financed by CLWG.
4. SCOPE OF THE AUDIT
The objective of the audit of CLWG’s financial statements concerning the Project ADC – 8369-00/2019 is to enable the auditor to express an independent professional opinion on the financial position of the organization and to ensure that the funds utilized to project activities have been used for their intended purposes.
The Audit shall proof whether the financial statements presented adhere to the provisions and the budget as set out in the project agreements and project document and whether they are free of material misstatement.
The Audit shall be conducted in accordance with generally accepted international auditing standards.
Appropriate audit procedures are to be applied by the auditor in order to form a conclusion on the matters outlined below. These procedures applied on a full coverage may include: controls, checking, evaluation, inspection, interview, analysis and other audit techniques.
When selecting the audit procedures, the auditor shall give consideration to the results of his risk assessment (during planning stage and during the course of the audit work).
Accordingly, the auditor must define and carry out suitable audit procedures in order to obtain an overview of the aforementioned aspects before the auditor assesses the individual findings and reaches a final independent opinion on the audit. The auditor is expected to select and apply any other audit procedures that the auditor may consider necessary in the professional execution of the financial audit engagement.
The auditor is required to:
- Verify compliance with ADC’s Terms and Conditions for Grants;
- Check that all expenses are recorded in the NGO’s accounts and are backed by originals of supporting evidence;
- Examine the correctness of the related expenditure practices,
- Audit on the basis of original receipts;
- Examine the invalidation of original receipts,
- Examine the plausibility of the expenses and allocation of the same to the items of the project budget;
- Examine the compliance with the applicable cash management policy;
- Examine the total financial management;
- Examine the compliance with the applicable provisions of labor law and social security law;
- Examine the compliance with the applicable procurement provisions;
- Assess the inventory list;
- Examine payroll and time management;
- Establish the Project partner’s contribution (cash & in kind) and assess costs allocated to the project with regards to shared costs (e.g., rent, salaries, utility bills, etc.);
- Review project accounts and bank statement;
- Establish the amount of interest earned on the funds received by the donor.
In addition to the audit report, we ask you to prepare a Management Letter on the following:
- Give comments and observations on the accounting records, procedures, systems and controls that were examined during the course of the audit;
- Analyze the decision-making procedures within CLWG;
- Report issues/problems identified during the audit which might have an important impact on the project of the organization;
- Make recommendations regarding the performance and management systems applied;
- Report on the implementation status of recommendations related to previous period audit reports.
5. DOCUMENTS OF REFERENCE
The following documents and matters are to be considered by the auditor as basic references for performing the financial audit.
Legislation: National laws and regulations
Project/program: Grant Agreement Project number 8369-00/2019 between ADA and the Counselling Line for Women and Girls including all its annexes, e.g.,
General Terms & Conditions to ADA Grant Agreement,
Project Document /
Project Budget, financing plans,
Programs of project activities;
Code of Conduct,
Mid-term/Final project reports with financial reports (including financial statements and list of invoices/receipts)
Organization: Organization and project management procedures;
Accounting: Accounting documents subject to the financial audit
The CLWG will make available all the above-mentioned documents to the external auditor
and any other information / document required. The project managers, the financial manager and the staff working on the project will be open to collaboration with the expert auditor.
6. REPORTING
The expert auditor shall produce an audit report in accordance with the Scope of the Audit (described in section 4) and as per ISAs, whether the financial reports as whole are free from material misstatement.
The auditor report shall clearly state:
- Project number and name
- Implementing organization
- Donor
- Reporting period and currency
- Total amount of budgeted income and expenditures
- Total amount of actual income and expenditures
- Exchange rates used in the Financial Project Report
- Factual findings identified
- Comments on not-accepted vouchers;
- Closing balance (including cash, bank and other assets, e.g., advance payments and outstanding checks)
- Clear description of cash-flows, evidenced by currency exchange confirmations and bank statements;
- Auditor’s name, position, address, phone, fax and e-mail
- Date, auditor’s signature and authorization.
The Auditor’s Report should offer an opinion on the following areas:
- Is the Financial Project Report in accordance with bookkeeping?
- Do the received funds match the bookkeeping?
- Does the bookkeeping match the vouchers?
- Are there proper vouchers for all transactions?
- Does the bookkeeping match the Official Bank Account Statements and Cash Book?
- Report on the VAT Status.
The financial report will consist of a detailed list of expenses (according to budget lines and the budget/expenses overview (according to the format of Austrian Development Agency; format will be provided by CLWG).
7. REPORTING DEADLINES
Subject to verification are three financial reports as given below:
| Audit report | Reporting period | Submission to ADC |
| 1st Audit | 01.07.2019 – 31.12.2020 | 10.04.2021 |
| 2nd Audit | 01.01.2021 – 31.12.2021 | 28.02.2022 |
| 3rd Audit | 01.01.2022 – 30.06.2022 | 31.08.2022 |
There will be one audit per project implementation period (1st audit: 01/07/2019-31/12/2020, 2nd audit: 01/01/2021 -31/12/2021, final audit 01/01/2022 – 30/06/2022 unless agreed otherwise between CLWG and the auditor).
The total budget of the project, subject to three audits is EUR 344.962,48. The estimated amount of the 1st financial report is approximately EUR 125.000,00.
7. WORK PLAN
CLWG requests for offers by Audit firms. Based on terms of reference, at least three offers must be obtained. The best bidder shall be identified by an independent evaluation commission applying objective criteria determined in advance. The best bidder shall be legally authorized, reliable and capable to perform the requested services. The contract shall be awarded to the bidder offering the best value for money. CLWG informs ADA for the list of auditors that have applied and the selection process. CLWG awaits ADA’s approval before the audit process take place.
Before carrying out the audit, a contract (based on the ToR for the external audit) in English language will be signed between CLWG and the respective auditing company. Authorized to sign the contract (based on the ToR for the external audit) with the auditing company and the audit report: Iris Luarasi, Executive Director of CLWG.
The audit shall be carried out in the CLWG’s offices in Tirana, Albania and comprises the investigation of bank statements, accounts and invoices.
The audit report has to be written in English and sent per e-mail to: linjakeshillimit@gmail.com, elona.fana@ada.gv.at and luarasi@gmail.com
The audit should follow this time-schedule:
| Commencement of the audit | In 10 working days from signing of Engagement letter with Auditors | Audit Company |
| Presentation of first draft | 25-30 working days from start of the audit | Audit Company |
| Validation/ meeting | 10 days from submission of the draft | Audit Company / xxx |
| Submission of audit final report to CLWG and to ADA | 10 days after the validation meeting | Audit Company /xxx |
8. REQUIRED EXPERTISE
- The company must have registered Certified Auditors in the audit team.
- The audit company must be an audit company registered in Albania, and be a member of any international auditing group or subsidiary of a foreign audit company.
- The company must have at least one Certified Auditor (registered accounting expert) with international recognized certification.
- The person appointed as the Audit Manager must be a Certified Auditor (registered accounting expert) with at least 5 years of audit experience.
- The certified auditors should demonstrate audit experience of donor funded projects and / or international organizations.
The expert auditor must not have been involved in the NGOs’ accounting.
We expect offers till March 8, 2021 at 16:00 hours
9. CONTACT
Counselling Line for Women and Girls
Executive Director : Ms. Iris Luarasi
E-mail: linjakeshillimit@gmail.com and luarasi@gmail.com
Address:
Rr. Muhamet Gjollesha
Pall 73, Shk 1 Apt 10
1023 Tirana, ALBANIA