External Audit Services

Consultancy Opportunity

1. CASA PROJECT OVERVIEW

CASA is an FCDO – International Climate Finance (ICF) funded programme driving global investment for inclusive climate-resilient agri-food systems that increase smallholder incomes. CASA makes the case to impact and return-oriented investors for increased investment in agribusinesses that work with smallholder supply chains. The programme achieves this goal by:

• Demonstrating the commercial viability and investment-readiness of small and medium-sized (SME) agribusinesses with significant smallholder supply chains;
• Helping investors to increase the impact of their investments through the provision of inclusive technical assistance;
• Strengthening the socio-legal empowerment of smallholders within value chains; and
• Tackling the information and evidence gaps holding back investment

For demonstrating the commercial and development potential of smallholder sourcing models, CASA focuses on catalytic interventions in the agriculture sectors of Ethiopia, Malawi, Nepal and Rwanda that support agri-SMEs prepare for and secure investment while connecting smallholders to commercial markets.

CASA’s work on research and communications is structured around identifying constraints, opportunities and addressing evidence gaps through research; shaping the debate on smallholder agriculture to influence actions of investors, governments and donors; and creating networking opportunities through events and stakeholder engagement.

2. ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND

In Malawi, CASA has been implementing catalytic interventions in the two complementary value chains of aquaculture and poultry. The implementation for the first set of ten (cohort one) projects commenced in August 2020 and was fully concluded and phased out by 31^st March 2023. Meanwhile, the second set of eight (cohort two) projects commenced in July 2022 and these are currently being phased out right now. In line with the Subaward Agreement (SAAs) with the respective Implementing Partners (IPs), CASA is planning to carry out a comprehensive audit of the project activities to ascertain that grant funds have been used for intended and agreed activities and that all expenditures under the grant were executed according to FCDO and CASA rules and regulations.

To conduct these external audits, CASA is seeking to contract the services of a reputable Audit Firm through a restricted tender process as stipulated in CASA Subaward Manual and CASA’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The successful Audit Firm will be expected to carry out an audit exercise for all Eight CASA cohort two projects based on an agreed audit budget quotation expected to be submitted by the Audit Firm as part of the application submission which will be evaluated against the internally approved budget ceiling for each project. In this regard, the quotation is expected to be clearly itemised.

CASA Malawi currently has nine implementing partners for the eight cohort two projects. However, one of these implementing partners does not have a grant component. The eight partners  have a total grant value of £88,183. Meanwhile, one of these eight projects was already phased out on 31^st March 2024, five will be phased out on 30^th June 2024 while the remaining two will be phased out on 31^st December 2024.

3. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The specific duties and tasks that the Auditor will be required to undertake include the following:

1. Review the financial statements of project revenues and expenditures for the period under review as produced by the Implementing Partner (IP) in accordance with Annex 1a, 1b and 1c of the subaward agreement, where these Annexes refer to the following:
2. Annex 1a (Agreed Workplan outlining deliverables/activities with timelines)
3. Annex 1b (Agreed budget which contains financial related cost share obligation for both CASA and the IP)

• Annex 1c (Agreed disbursement plan which contains grants made to the IP for each agreed milestone deliverablewith relevant mode of verification)

2. Review the IP’s statement of accounts through the software/systems used by the IP for the CASA supported project and, on a sample basis, check the expenditure summary and supporting documentation as per subaward agreement.
3. Review a sample (sample size to be agreed at commencement) of the supporting documentation and check whether they are eligible expenses, as defined in the contract between NIRAS and the IP with a specific focus on Annex 2 thereof (i.e., Instructions to Partners)
4. Check on a sample basis (sample size to be agreed at commencement ) whether necessary supporting documents and records have been kept in respect of expenditures reported in accordance to the signed SAA
5. Check on a sample basis, (sample size to be agreed at assignment commencement) whether variations in currency exchange rates have accurately been accounted for in the income and expenditure reports submitted by the IP, including exchange gains or losses
6. Check on a sample basis, (sample size to be agreed at assignment commencement) whether project assets are appropriately maintained and recorded on an asset register as per FCDO requirements.
7. On the basis of the above procedures and tasks, the service provider will issue a report of the findings of the review.
8. Check whether the IP is following internal controls to prevent fraud and corruption and conflict of interest in implementing the CASA project.
9. Provide an audit opinion on the findings of the audit,

The auditor will make every effort to plan the audit in a manner that will allow them to have a reasonable opportunity of detecting material misstatement in the Income and Expenditure Statement or accounting records resulting from irregularities, fraud, error or non-compliance with the law or regulations even though auditor’s examination will not in itself be relied upon to disclose irregularities, fraud, error or non-compliance with law or regulations.

4. REQUIRED SKILLS and QUALIFICATIONS

The Audit Firm shall have the following qualifications and experience: 

The auditor must be completely impartial and independent from all aspects of management or financial interests in the entity being audited, i.e., the CASA supported IPs. The auditor should not, during the period covered by the audit nor during the undertaking of the audit, be employed by, serve as, director for, or have any financial or close business relationships with any senior participant in the management of the IP. The auditor should disclose any relationship that might possibly compromise their independence.

• The partner(s) in a successful audit firm/ must be a Chartered Accountant and registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountant in Malawi.
• The firm must have at least five years of relevant and diversified professional experience in auditing with sizeable portfolio and experience in the audit of donor funded projects, private sector, experience with FCDO funded projects will be an added advantage.
• The auditor must employ adequate staff with appropriate professional qualifications and suitable experience with International Standard of Auditing or national standards Chartered Accountants, including experience in auditing the accounts of entities comparable in size and complexity to the grants-financed interventions implemented by the nine IPs under CASA.

 SUBMISSION OF THE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Interested qualified service providers are requested to submit their Expression of Interest (EoI) comprising the technical and financial proposal with a maximum of 20 pages exclusive of the statutory requirements which shall be attached separately. The proposal will be submitted through the emails below, ensuring that the subject line is clearly captioned as follows: “EOI: EXTERNAL AUDITORS.”

As part of their technical proposal, prospective service providers are expected to outlining the following:

• Brief background of the firm detailing inter alia experience with deliver of similar assignments and, if applicable, experience with FCDO funded projects, as well as experience carrying out similar services for Non-profit organisations and for profit (SMEs)
• Approach, Methodology, Timing and output for performing the assignment.
• Personnel inputs.
• Composition of the team personnel.
• Curriculum vitae for proposed staff. Curriculum vitae (CVs) should be provided to CASA Malawi by the principal of the audit institution who would be responsible for signing the opinion and key personnel proposed as part of the audit team. CVs should include details on relevant audits carried out by the applicable staff, including ongoing assignments indicating capability and capacity to undertake the audit and experience in auditing financial statements compliant with the Chartered Accountants Standards.

As part of the financial proposal,  prospective service providers are expected to submit an all-inclusive budget in advance and this will be subject to negotiation with CASA. This notwithstanding, prospective service providers must note that all proposals will be evaluated and selected based only on its technical merit (Quality Based Selection – QBS) as per FCDO/CASA restricted tender process rules..

Please refer to Appendix 1 for a detailed technical evaluation and selection criteria.

The proposal should be addressed to: The Country Manager-CASA Malawi.

Mode of submission: ONLY electronically submitted proposals will be accepted.

It should be submitted to the following email: RHCH@niras.com

The deadline for submission of the proposal is: 10^th June 2024 before 12:00 noon CAT.

Only shortlisted bidders will be invited to present themselves for interview at CASA Malawi Office at a date to be communicated. For any technical questions, send an email to: RHCH@niras.com; or uchizinkhoma@live.com  not later than 7 days after the date of the advert.

For more details, Download the Terms of reference using: ToRs for External Audit Exercises_Final