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Plan International Sweden's Terms of Reference for Audit of Sida funded Project Support

Brief presentation of PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO:

PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO wishes to engage the services of an audit firm for the purpose of auditing the SIDA CIVSAM FY20-24:Creating and Advanced Transformation of Civil Society Environment for Resilience Building in Multi-hazard Settings, ARO100110 as stipulated in the agreement between PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO and Plan International Sweden, signed on [18 July 2019]. PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO has for the audit period obtained a grant of 1,026,904 SEK from Plan International Sweden/Sida. The audit shall be carried out in accordance with the international audit standards issued by IAASB^[1]. In addition to the audit of the financial statements, the assignment also includes an engagement to perform agreed-upon procedures regarding financial information in accordance with International Standard on Related Services, ISRS 4400 in accordance with the terms and review areas listed in section II.

The audit shall be carried out by an external, independent and qualified auditor. The auditor shall be registered and have a license with the Federation of Accounting Profession (FAP). Plan International Sweden shall approve the selection of auditor before the audit begins and a copy of the license shall be shared with Plan International Sweden. When contracting an audit firm PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO shall fill in a format that shall be shared with SNO. See Appendix 1 in this document. The signing auditor shall not be contracted for the assignment for more than a seven-year period. The same audit firm can however be contracted for longer than seven years. It is possible to procure an audit firm for the entire project period. The same auditor may conduct the audit in all subsequent links, but each link may also use different auditors. The audit shall be reported according to the following two formats in Appendix 2 and 3 of this document.

1. Objectives and scope of the audit

The objective is to audit the financial report for the period 1^st July 2019 – 30^th June 2020] as submitted to Plan International Sweden and to express an audit opinion according to ISA 800/805 on whether the financial report of ARO100110 is in accordance with the relevant terms and Plan International Sweden's instruction for financial reporting as stipulated in the agreement, including annexes between Plan International Sweden and PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO.

Plan International Sweden wants to emphasise the importance that the Auditor, as a part of the assignment, reviews whether the subsequent partner organisations follow the requirements from Sida, see "Plan International Sweden's Audit instructions for Sida funded projects", version April 2019.  

II. Additional assignment; Engagement to perform Agreed-Upon Procedures regarding financial information in accordance with International Standard on Related Services, ISRS 4400

The following areas should be included:

• Follow up whether salary costs debited to the project/programme are recorded throughout the duration of the year in a systemized way and examine whether the salary costs can be verified by sufficient supporting documentation.[2]
• Examine whether the financial report includes a comparison, for every budget item, between the actual costs/expenditures of activities and the budgeted costs/expenditures as approved by Plan International Sweden for the period.
• Based on materiality and risk, the auditor shall examine whether there is sufficient documentation supporting all reported costs.
• Check whether PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO complies with the applicable tax legislation in regard to taxes and social security fees.
• Follow up whether PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO has adhered to the procurement guidelines annexed to the agreement.
• Review if closing balance for previous period is the same as starting balance for the current period.
• If PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO applies modified cash basis as accounting principle, the auditor shall motivate whether the applied accounting principle is acceptable for the type of financial report.
• Verify the closing balance at the end of the financial year. For the last year of implementation, verify the outgoing balance to be repaid to Plan International Sweden.
• Regardless of materiality, quantify the amount for costs lacking sufficient supporting documentation.
• Verify that PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO has signed agreements with its subsequent partner organisations.
• Verify that the audit requirements in the agreements with subsequent partner organisations are in accordance with the audit requirements as stipulated in PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO agreement with Plan International Sweden.
• Review whether there is an unbroken chain of audited financial reports according to the requirements as stipulated in the agreement between PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO and Plan International Sweden, for funds disbursed the previous year. The review shall include whether PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO makes documented assessments of the audited financial reports submitted to PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO and whether these reports are followed-up by PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO. The review shall include verification of contributions equivalent of a minimum of 50 % of the total of disbursed funds as well as 50 % of the number of contributions. The review shall also include any observations from auditors that Plan International Sweden should be informed about. 
• Verify if the same requirements for reporting exchange rate gains/exchange rate losses as stipulated in the agreement between PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO and Plan International Sweden, are included in the agreements between PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO and its subsequent partner organisations.
• Follow up if weaknesses identified in previous audits are implemented as described in the management response.

III The Reporting

The reports in subsequent links must be consolidated into one report and include all respective audit findings. The reporting shall furthermore be signed by the responsible auditor (not just the audit firm) and title.

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 was subject to the audit shall be attached to the Independent Auditor’s Report.

The reporting from the auditor shall also include a Management letter with audit findings and weaknesses identified during the audit process. The auditor shall regardless of materiality, quantify the amount for costs lacking sufficient supporting documentation. The auditor shall make recommendations to address the weaknesses identified and the recommendations shall be presented in priority order. 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 in the audit reporting.

The auditor of ARO need to be submitted a consolidated audit report including MMR100131 and TLS100121.

Measures taken by the organisation to address weaknesses identified in previous audits shall also be presented in the Management letter. 

The additional assignment according to agreed-upon procedures ISRS 4400 under paragraph II, shall be reported separately in a “Report of factual findings”.

If the auditor assesses that the observations presented in a Report of factual findings include the information that would have been included in a Management letter, a Management letter is not required. In such a case, the “Report of factual findings” shall also include recommendations to PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO and an explanation of why a Management letter has not been developed. In those cases, PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO shall make a Management Response to the recommendations the auditor has made in the Report of factual findings.

PLAN INTERNATIONAL ARO is responsible for making a Management Response for all audits, even if there are no findings during audit. The management response shall respond to all auditors' recommendations which shall include a time-bound action plan. The Management Response can be included in the audit reports or as an annex and shall be signed by management.

The reports are to be submitted in SEK and written in English in one copy and submitted digitally to Plan International Sweden no later than 1 Nov 2020. All reports may be submitted in any of the following languages: English, French or Spanish. Submission of draft reports to Plan International Sweden for review is due by 15 October 2020.  

How to apply

Interested auditor should send a proposal to Supornchai.Nawataweeporn@plan-international.org with the subject “Application for Audit SIDA project”. within June 24, 2020.