TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL AUDIT FY 2016-2017 FOR SOLJA

 INVITATION TO TENDER FOR AUDIT SERVICES

1. THE ENTITY

(Somaliland Journalists Association) is registered as a branch office under the Somaliland NGO ACT, with a Compliance Certificate issued in March 2017. SOLJA was set up  to enhance media freedom, improve media environment for Somaliland journalists, stand for journalist rights and protection.

 CONDITIONS OF ENGAGEMENT

1. Term of Engagement

It is the intention of SOLJA to enter into an agreement with the successful firm to provide external audit services for the office beginning with the annual Institutional audit for the 6month months period of the fiscal year August 2016 – 31 May 2017 inclusive.

Acceptance of Proposal

SOLJA reserves the right to reject any and all proposal for any reason. The lowest of any proposal may not necessarily be accepted. The acceptance of any proposal is subject to funds being legally available to complete this transaction and approval by IMS headquarters. SOLJA accepts no obligation for reimbursing responding firms for any expenses incurred in preparing proposals in response to this request.

1. Experience and Qualification

The firm must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered for evaluation against his request:

• Registered and recognized by Somaliland law and compliant with statutory requirements
• Provide a letter of good standing from Somaliland Accountants association
• At least two partners and/or full time associates who are Certified Public Accountants
• In practice for minimum 5 years
• Knowledge and experience of audit with NGOs, provide list of NGOs audited in last three years
• Proposal on calculation of fees including staff CVs and indication of involvement in services

2. SCOPE OF AUDIT SERVICES

1. Services and deliverables

SOLJA invites qualified auditing firms to submit proposal to perform annual Institutional Audit services.  This will include, but may not be limited to, the following:

• Planning, management and execution of Institutional audit for SOLJA
• Examination of financial records, systems and controls of SOLJA in accordance with internationally accepted auditing standards and the provisions of the Kenya government
• Audit of projects within the annual period including compliance against each donor’s requirements and standards
• Separated financial statement and management letter
• Presentation of the audit report and management letter to the management
• Provision of advice to management on weaknesses of internal control noted during audit or other areas of concern; new or changed reporting requirements and auditing standards; advice on technical accounting and tax matters.
• Respond to and discuss with SOLJA staff accounting, tax and other issues arising throughout the year. While these may not be frequent enough to incur any additional charges, this should be specified and noted accordingly in case of any additional billing to be included in the fee schedule.

1. Qualified statement

The auditor shall immediately on discovery of information or conditions which would otherwise lead to inclusion of a qualified opinion with respect to the financial statements inform and fully discuss with SOLJA management. In addition, the auditor shall allow a reasonable period of time for staff to investigate, analyze and report and take such corrective action necessary to avoid inclusion of such qualification.

1. Audit schedule

The auditor shall correspond with SOLJA staff to discuss and agree upon a schedule of activities leading to completion of annual Institutional audit. The basic timelines would be as follows:

Audit Activity	Timetable
Pre-audit meeting with organization staff	May 30
Audit field work	1st June
Financial statement provided	3rd June
Final audit report and management letter	10th June

The SOLJA staff will be responsible for the year end close and preparation of annual accounts.

1. Expenditure and grant information

The number of transactions to be audited under the institutional audit is about 1740 entries. SOLJA  has had donor funding from the following donors:

Donor	Grant period	Budget grant amount in USD	Comments
IMS	August 2016-May 2017	45,550

 

 

3. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

• Cover letter stating audit firms’ understanding of the TORs for services to be provided.
• Company profile and contacts
• Evidence of experience auditing NGO accounts with three references
• CVs of key staff to be assigned to audit
• Audit implementation: specify approach, proposed schedule, any techniques or processes, in order to perform the work within timeframe specified and provide all deliverables required.
• Fee proposal breakdown in a suitable format with billing schedule

4. PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals meeting the requirements stated will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Audit fee
• Audit implementation
• Understanding of engagement
• Charity audit experience
• Personnel and experience
• References
• Additional services

5. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION AND SELECTION

Proposals must be submitted by no later than 28^th May 2017 to the following:

Name of Staff : soljajour@gmail.com, CC: solja.ed@soljaorg.com

Title: Yahye Mohamed

Address: 063-4772121

Evaluation of proposals will be conducted with the selection to be made by 1^th June2017 followed by appointment of auditor.