Request for Proposals - Project Audit

Data collection period: November 2022.

Submission of the final audit report by 15 December 2022.

The audit of the report will be carried out in accordance with the National and International Standards on Auditing. The audit report will briefly reflect the situation regarding the allocation and spending of financial resources for each project separately. The audit report must contain a clearly expressed opinion in written form.

Purpose

The purpose of the project audit report is to verify the financial reports submitted to the donor by Expert-Grup, and to express an audit opinion on whether the financial reports correspond to the accounting records of the grant beneficiary and on compliance with the requirements of the grant contract signed between the grant beneficiary and the donor.

When conducting the audit, particular attention will be paid to the following aspects:

• Analysis of the expenditure of grant funds and of the corresponding documents submitted to the donor, in order to determine whether they are reasonable in their general nature, whether they are permitted by the conditions under which the funds were awarded, whether they are supported by the necessary documents, and whether the expenditure reflected in the financial report corresponds to the accounting documents of the grant beneficiary. The auditor will determine whether expenditure is recognised and recorded in accordance with the legislation in force and the requirements of the grant contract.
• Assessment of the organisation's accounting system, in order to determine whether the grant is managed adequately and whether income and expenditure can be easily identified. The accounting documents must reflect the receipt and spending of grant funds separately;
• Verification of the accrual and use of bank interest on the financial resources provided by the donor and held in the organisation's accounts, if any;
• Verification of the existence of an internal control system within the organisation that would sufficiently ensure that the grant is managed in accordance with the legislation and regulations in force and with the clauses of the grant contract;
• Verification of the grant beneficiary's compliance with the grant contract. This analysis must include an assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation's activity, verification of the reports submitted to the donor, verification of the compatibility of the procurement of goods and services with the requirements of the grant contract, compliance with the approved budget, the correctness of the documentation of both local and international travel by road and air, and verification of compliance with other important conditions stipulated in the contract. During the analysis, compliance with the legislation in force in the grant management process is also verified.

The auditors will have access to all accounting documents and records relating to the procedure for allocating, managing and reporting on the mentioned grants. Expert-Grup will provide the auditor with the support and space needed to facilitate the audit process, as well as access to any necessary information.

Technical tasks

The audit company will produce the following documents:

• An audit report meeting the following details:

1. The audit report, verified and signed by the responsible auditor (the name, surname and position of the qualified and licensed auditor must be included, not just the name of the company), will be submitted to Expert-Grup by the indicated deadlines;
2. The audit report must clearly state the audit opinion, details of the audit methodology and the purpose of the audit;
3. The audit report will be submitted in two copies in Romanian and in electronic version (in pdf format);

• A management letter that will include the audit conclusion on: The auditor's recommendations for remedying the identified deficiencies (the recommendations will be presented in order of priority).
• The audit report will contain proposals and recommendations for improving the Association's internal policies.

Content and procedure for submitting the bid

To participate in the competition, the bidder must send the following documents to procurari@expert-grup.org  :

• The bidder's name, contact telephone number, email address and a presentation of the persons who will be directly involved in auditing the project;
• The organisation's CV showing relevant audit activities as well as the value of the projects audited;
• A description of the bidding company, its experience in the field and an argument for the advisability of selecting it;
• The licence for audit activity (copy);
• The financial offer, indicating the price of the audit services, including VAT, and the exact period for carrying out the audit, in compliance with the deadlines indicated above.

Bid evaluation criteria

The bids will be examined by bid evaluation teams on the basis of the following criteria:

• Experience in the field - interested audit companies must have experience in auditing non-commercial organisations in the Republic of Moldova;
• Qualifications of the team that will carry out the audit;
• Price of the audit services;
• Image and reputation of the company.

Minimum requirements for participating companies:

• 3 years of activity;
• Experience in auditing projects funded by international donors.

Priority will be given to companies with at least 5 years of experience in auditing projects worth a minimum of USD 70,000. 

The deadline for submitting bids is 17 June 2022, 10:00.

For any additional information, you can contact us at  iulia@expert-grup.org , tel. 79 033 684 (available on Viber only). Contact person: Iulia Sîrghi-Zolotco.