Back Climate Adaptation and resilience building on the Sundarban Islands

Background and Organisational Setting

Hoffnungszeichen | Sign of Hope e.V. (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, while Development Research Communications and Services Centre (DRCSC) will be the local implementing agency.

Project Objective: Conserve Sundarbans’s rich yet threatened natural resource base of flora and fauna and empower the climate vulnerable coastal communities of Sundarbans through their transition to sustainable eco-friendly livelihoods. Due to the improvement of agricultural methods and provision of alternative income sources, are the negative mitigation measure reduced. The number of trees which are important for Co2 absorption, coastal protection and biodiversity are increased.

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.

This in-depth audit will verify the compliance with standards of the funding agency BMZ, SoH, national regulations and the international accounting standards.

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 Climate Adaptation and resilience building on the Sundarban Islands for all funds received and expended by DRCSC from 01/01/2018 – 30/09/2021.

Additionally, the audit shall give recommendations on strengths, weaknesses, and required improvement in the project-related financial and human resources management systems of DRCSC.

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 DRCSC.

Expected Deliverables

The auditor is expected to produce an audit report, an audit certificate and a management letter, which will comprise the following:

1. Presentation of the scope and mandate of the audit, as well as the list of documents that formed the evidence for the audit,

2. An opinion whether financial statements (statement of accounts) are issued in accordance with the financial reporting framework of the project, BMZ requirements and an internationally recognised accounting standard,

3. A checked, signed, and stamped list of all project costs receipts, sorted by BMZ budget lines (list can be provided by the local implementing partner).

4. 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. In exceptional cases, the audit is accepted in French or Spanish. In this case, the core statements, including identified shortcomings and recommendations, as well as concluding audit opinion should be translated into 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 partner DRCSC as well as relevant donor documents through SoH.

The auditor will be responsible to set up a schedule in agreement with the local implementing partner DRCSC. Any expenses for field trips, postal and translation services and other expenses shall be included in the auditor’s proposed budget. DRCSC 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 recognised independent auditing authority,
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience conducting external independent audits of projects funded by international institutional donors in India.