The auditor of the individual consortium partners is responsible for drawing up a report of factual findings on the Amount Disclosed Annexe to the individual financial report. This engagement must be carried out in accordance with ISRS 4400 as follows. 

In a ISRS 4400 engagement, the auditor does not provide assurance but only reports its audit findings. This protocol describes the areas to be covered. Users of the report must form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions. The auditor must agree the nature, timing and scope of the specific activities with the contracting authority and disclose the findings in its report on them clearly (see ISRS 4400). The auditor’s activities and their scope must be clearly understood. The auditor is not expected to express an opinion on the adequacy and suitability of the activities performed in relation to why they were performed or for any other reason. 

The auditor must perform the following activities. 

• Formal requirements regarding the table
  • The auditor checks that the table in the Amount Disclosed Annexe comprises at least the rows and columns shown in section 1.5, point e.
• Reconciliation of the information in the table with the accounting records 
  • The auditor checks that the amounts disclosed in the table for the reporting period in question and the cumulative amounts are consistent with the accounting records.
  • The auditor checks that the same accounting records were also used to prepare the individual financial reports. If separate accounting records have been kept, the auditor checks that the amounts disclosed in the table agree, in so far as applicable, with the accounting records underlying the consortium partners’ individual financial reports. 
• Existence of documents and processes
  • The auditor takes note of the lead party’s/consortium partner’s description of the processes and the documents on the basis of which payments to cooperating partners are deemed to have been made and accounted for.
  • The auditor checks whether the description includes variations and, if so, states what they are. (Variations are different combination of documents and processes that depend on the conditions and circumstances described by the lead party/consortium partner.) The auditor specifies the variations in its report of factual findings.
  • The auditor takes note of the amount disclosed in the table as accounted for during the reporting period and asks the lead party/consortium partner for a breakdown of the underlying amounts^[3] in the accounting records.
  • The auditor selects 10% of the underlying amounts in the accounting records (but at least two and no more than seven).

1. If the lead party’s/consortium partner’s description indicates that there is a variation in processes and/or documents, the auditor’s selection must in any event include the two or three most frequent variations.
2. If amounts are recorded as accounted for at different moments in the reporting period, the auditor will seek to spread its selection across time.
3. If there are several cooperating partners, the auditor will also seek to spread its sample across the cooperating partners and also across reporting periods.
4. Subject to the above conditions, the auditor will seek to include at least 25% of the amount accounted for in its selection. If this leads to the selection of more than the maximum number of seven underlying amounts, a lower percentage will suffice.

• Regarding each of the amounts selected, the auditor must check:

1. whether there are underlying documents in accordance with the lead party’s/consortium partner’s description.
2. whether they are the outcome of a process (including record keeping) described by the lead party/consortium partner.
3. whether the amounts recognized in the accounting records agree with the amounts in the documents in question.

If the auditor finds discrepancies in the documents, processes or figures, it must state their nature and size in its report. The auditor must also report the cause of the discrepancy (if known). If the cause is not known, the auditor must ask the consortium partner for an explanation and include it in its report of factual findings. The auditor need not carry out a supplementary review of the cause of the discrepancy or the consortium partner’s explanation.  

2.5        Report on each consortium partner  

2.5.1    Audit opinion on individual financial reports (ISA 800/805)

The audit report must in any event include the audit goals and scope, the audit criteria applied in so far as relevant and the opinion. 

If the audit opinion is unqualified, the audit report must be drawn up in accordance with the model text below or, where applicable, a more recent model text published on the IAASB’s website. 

The auditor must also devise a suitable way of identifying the financial statements it audits. 

2.5.2  Report of factual findings (ISRS 4400) 

The report of factual findings comprises the elements required under ISRS 4400 and describes the audit activities and findings regarding the aspects referred to in section 2.4 of this protocol.  A model report is available on the IAASB’s website. 

3.           Activities for the lead party’s consolidated financial report

3.1        Introduction 

This section considers the audit of the lead party’s Consortium Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka) report. This report consolidates the individual financial reports of all consortium partners.  

3.2        Lead party’s Consortium Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka) report (ISRS 4400) 

The lead party’s auditor is responsible for drawing up a report of factual findings on the consolidated financial report of the consortium as a whole. This engagement must be carried out in accordance with ISRS 4400 as follows. 

In a ISRS 4400 engagement, the auditor does not provide assurance but only reports its audit findings. This protocol describes the areas to be covered. Users of the report must form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions. The auditor must agree the nature, timing and scope of the specific activities with the contracting authority and disclose the findings in its report (see ISRS 4400). The auditor’s activities and their scope must be clearly understood. The auditor is not expected to express an opinion on the adequacy and suitability of the activities performed in relation to why they were performed or for any other reason. 

The auditor must perform the following activities. 

• The auditor must check whether audit opinions prepared in accordance with ISA 800/805 have been issued on the information underlying the Consortium Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka) report (i.e. the financial reports of all individual consortium partners). 

• The auditor must check the nature of these audit opinions. If an unqualified opinion has not been expressed, it must mention this in the report of findings, stating:
  • the name of the consortium partner in question.
  • the nature of the opinion.
  • the verbatim text of the audit opinion explaining why an unqualified opinion could not be expressed.
  • where applicable, the place in the Consortium Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka) report of the consortium as a whole where the item(s) can be found that prevented the auditor from expressing an unqualified opinion.

The auditor must check that the lead party has correctly and completely combined the financial reports of all individual consortium partners into the consolidated financial report and that the lead party has explained any discrepancies^[4] between the consortium partners’ financial reports and the consolidated financial report. If the auditor is of the opinion that the lead party’s consolidated financial report or explanatory notes are incorrect or incomplete, it must make recommendations for improvement. If the lead party does not implement the recommendations, the auditor must state so in its report of findings.  

3.3        Report on the lead party’s Consortium Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka) report 

3.3.1    Report of findings (ISRS 4400) 

The report of findings comprises the elements required under ISRS 4400, describes the activities and findings regarding the aspects referred to in section 3.2 of this protocol and contains the summary referred to in section 3.2, third bullet point, of the individual consortium partners’ reports drawn up in accordance with ISRS 4400.  

3.3.2 Model text 

The auditor must use the model text published on the IAASB’s website.

ANNEXE A – Model audit report

Pertaining to the audit opinion on the individual financial reports drawn up in accordance with ISA 800/805 

Subject: Audit report on the individual financial report of International Alert for Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka), for which International Alert is the lead party, as required under the Consortium Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka) Audit Protocol, specifically section 2.3. 

Reference period of the report audited:   

The auditor is responsible for carrying out the audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA) and the Consortium Access to Justice (Uhaki Bila Mipaka) Audit Protocol.  

1. If the auditor does not express an unqualified opinion, the auditor must explain why not in the box below. 

Explanatory note on why an unqualified opinion was not expressed

2. If and in so far as the audit considers the design and functioning of the internal control system and more particularly the aspects in the boxes below, it must report its findings on those aspects. If the audit has not considered the internal control system or the following aspects, the auditor must state ‘Not applicable’ in the boxes below.

Findings on the internal control system:

1. Findings on the authorisation of outgoing payments (i.e. whether outgoing payments are authorised by the authorised officer(s) and were made to the entitled party):
2. Findings on the allocation of direct and indirect programme costs (and their compliance with the approved budget in annexe 1 of the grant decision):
3. Findings on applicable EU and other public procurement rules:
4. Findings on the extent to which accounting processes lead to the recording of financial information in accordance with the reporting system applicable to the entity:

3. The audit report must state any other findings that the auditor must report orally or in writing to the governance bodies of the lead party/consortium partner. 

Any other audit findings (findings to be reported orally or in writing to the governance bodies): 

4. The consortium partner/lead party must declare in the letter of representation (LOR) issued to the auditor that article 7 of the grant decision has been satisfied: 

‘The grant recipient must not offer to third parties or seek or accept from or be promised by third parties, for itself or for any other party, any gift, remuneration, compensation or benefit of any kind whatsoever, if this could be interpreted as a corrupt or illegal practice.’ 

The auditor must state whether the previous statement is actually included in the LOR.  

Findings on the presence of the aforementioned statement in the LOR:

5. Audit Duration: The audit work shall be completed within one month from the date of commencement of the audit. 

6. Place of audit 

• For International Alert, Goma- DRC and Kigali- Rwanda Offices
• For Ipeace Goma- DRC and Kigali- Rwanda
• For Pole Institute – Goma -DRC Office

7. Terms of payment

The fees will be paid according to the following terms:

• 30% of the amount of the contract will be paid as a start-up advance upon signature of the contract.
• 50% of the amount of the contract will be paid after the submission of the final audit report
• 20% of the contract amount will be paid when the final report is approved by the funder.

8. Submission procedures

Interested candidates are invited to apply according to the indications below and indicated deadline

Interested candidates must apply no later than December 15, 2023 by submitting the following documents:

1. Copy of the Certificate of the Order of Chartered Accountants
2. Copy of the Existence Tax Declaration (DFE).
3. Copy of the Trade Register related to the market
4. Copies of the certificates of good execution of similar works
5. A technical and financial offer including the fees, the costs of report production and field work.

NB: Proposals must remain valid 90 days after the submission deadline. 

6. Extensive experience in conducting financial audit of project funded by Dutch Government through the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
7. Have an excellent command of French and a good level of English.
8. Be free from any commitment during the audit period. 

Offers submitted after the fixed deadline will be rejected outright. 

Interested audit firms should submit their technical and financial officer to: DRC.Office@international-alert.org with copy to Rwanda@international>-alert.org not later than 15th December 2023 at 5:30 PM.

[1] Accounts rendered during the current reporting period can relate to amounts received from or paid by a consortium partner in previous reporting periods; the amounts are to be disclosed in the line relating to the current reporting period and not in the cumulative line. The date on which account is rendered is decisive.

[2] Documents can include narrative reports, financial reports, audit reports and field visit reports. Processes are the way in which these documents are used to determine that an amount has been accounted for, e.g. how often documents are checked and by whom, who decides on the amount that is deemed to have been accounted for, and the supporting evidence. 

[3] The ‘underlying amount’ is the amount recognised for each cooperating partner or each contract with a cooperating partner or per country or region, or per theme, etc., depending on the primary design of the accounting records.

[4] Discrepancies are differences between the individual consortium partners’ financial reports and the consolidated financial report, resulting from numerical adjustments in the current reporting period, numerical adjustments in prior reporting periods, differences in classification (e.g. recognising costs under a different heading), etc.