Consultancy Opportunity: Project Audit

Terms of Reference

Introduction

Kenyan Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA) is the national membership representative body and the voice of over 175 community and private conservancies in Kenya.  Our role is to support and catalyse the conservancy movement through advocating for policies that support conservancies at national and county levels, empower members through access to information and tools, elevate knowledge on conservancies to the public at national and international level, convene platforms that facilitate peer-to peer learning among members across the country and serve as the coordinated voice of the conservancies.  KWCA is registered under the Societies Act, Cap 108, Laws of Kenya and has been in existence since 2013. KWCA relies on its members and partners to support its programs and operations.

KWCA implemented the project “Voices for Diversity-safeguarding ecosystems for nature and people” during the period January-December 2022. The project was financially supported by SIDA through WWF Sweden and Kenya. KWCA wishes to engage the services of an external, independent and qualified auditor for the purpose of auditing the Programme “Voices for Diversity – safeguarding ecosystems for nature and people”, as stipulated in the agreement between the WWF-Kenya and KWCA. The audit shall be carried out in accordance with international audit standards (ISA) issued by IAASB In addition, the assignment shall be carried out according to International Standards on Related Services (ISRS) 4400 shall be carried out.

Objectives and scope of the audit

The objective is to audit the financial report for the period January-December 2022 as submitted to WWF-Kenya and to express an audit opinion according to ISA, applying ISA 800/ISA 805, on whether the financial report of “Voices for Diversity – safeguarding ecosystems for nature and people”, is in accordance with the grant agreement between WWF-Kenya and KWCA.

Additional assignment: according to agreed upon procedures ISRS 4400, review the following areas in accordance with the Terms of Reference below,

1. Observe whether the financial report is structured in a way that allows for direct comparison with the latest approved budget.
2. Observe and inspect whether the financial report provides information regarding:
3. Financial outcome per budget line (both incomes and costs) for the reporting period and columns for cumulative information regarding earlier periods under current agreement.
4. When applicable, compare if the opening fund balance for the reporting period matches with what was stated as closing fund balance in the previous reporting period.
5. A disclosure of exchange gains/losses. Inquire and confirm whether the disclosure includes the entire chain of currency exchange from WWF Kenya’s disbursement to the handling of the project within the organization in local currency if , applicable.
6. Explanatory notes (such as, for instance, accounting principles applied for the financial report).
7. Amount of funds that has been forwarded to implementing partners, when applicable.
8. a) Inquire and inspect with what frequency salary costs during the reporting period are debited to the project/programme.

Choose a sample of three individuals for three different months and:

1. Inquire and inspect whether there are supporting documentation for debited salary costs.
2. Inquire and inspect whether actual time worked is documented and verified by a manager. Inquire and inspect within which frequency reconciliations between debited time and actual worked time is performed.
3. Inspect whether KWCA complies with applicable tax legislation with regard to personal income taxes (PAYE) and social security fees.
4. Inspect and confirm that the unspent fund balance (according to the financial report) at the end of the financial year is in line with information provided in the accounting system and/or bank account.
5. Applicable the final year: Inspect and confirm the unspent fund balance (including exchange gains) in the financial report and confirm the amount that shall be repaid to WWF-Kenya if any.
6. Overhead costs:
7. Inquire and inspect if the agreed overhead costs are based on a cost recovery model. Obtain information on debited overhead costs within the project and confirm whether the costs are in line with the partner´s routines for allocating overhead costs to different projects.
8. Inspect whether there is a reconciliation between the budgeted amount and the actual costs for overhead on an annual basis.

The reporting

The reporting shall be signed by the responsible auditor (not just the audit firm) and shall include the title of the responsible auditor.

Reporting from the ISA assignment

The reporting from the auditor shall include an independent auditor’s report in accordance with the format in standard ISA 800/805 and the auditor’s opinion shall be clearly stated. The financial report that has been the subject of the audit shall be attached to the audit report.

The reporting shall also include a Management letter that discloses all audit findings, as well as weaknesses identified during the audit process. The auditor shall make recommendations to address the identified findings and weaknesses. The recommendations shall be presented in priority order and with a risk classification.

Measures taken by the implementing partner to address weaknesses identified in previous audits shall also be presented in the Management Letter. If the previous audit did not have any findings or weaknesses to be followed-up on, a clarification of this must be disclosed in the audit reporting.

If the auditor assesses that no findings or weaknesses have been identified during the audit that would result in a Management Letter, an explanation of this assessment must be disclosed the audit reporting.

Reporting from the ISRS 4400 assignment

The additional assignment according to agreed upon procedures ISRS 4400 under section II, shall be reported separately in an “Agreed-upon procedures report”. Performed procedures should be described and the findings should be reported in accordance with the requirements in the International Standard on Related Services 4400.

Auditor’s Qualification and Experience

1. The   auditor   must   be   completely   impartial   and   independent   from   all   aspects of management or financial interests of KWCA;
2. The auditor shall not, during the period covered by the audit nor during the undertaking of the audit, be employed by, serve as advisers or mentors for, or have any financial or business relationships with KWCA; and
3. The auditor shall be registered with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK)

Application process and timelines

Interested applicants are requested to submit their documents (technical&financial) proposals to ceo@kwcakenya.com by Friday 10th February, 2023.