Terms of Reference for an annual financial audit of the project “Partnerships for quality and relevance in ICT vocational education in Moldova“

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SELECT THE OFFERS FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF AUDIT SERVICES

Educational Center PRO DIDACTICA announces contest for selection of an audit company or auditor to audit the financial statements of the project „Partnerships for quality and relevance in ICT vocational education in Moldova” funded by the Austrian Development Agency under Contract No. 8295-00/2015.

Type Audit – audit of the customer under ISA 800;
Project budget (grant awarded by ADA) – 573.650 EUR ;

Total project budget (including the contribution in cash by the project applicant and the local project partner): 687.650 EUR
The period of implementation of the project: 1 December 2015 – 30 November 2018;

Background

Educational Center PRO DIDACTICA in partnership with National Association of Private ICT Companies (ATIC) are implementing the project „Partnerships for quality and relevance in ICT vocational education in Moldova“.

Since Moldova’s independence, the labor market and the industrial sector have constantly suffered from a lack of efficiency and a decline of education quality. Improving the quality, relevance and efficiency of the education system is a main priority for Moldova. The policy documents elaborated and approved in 2013-2014 are focused on this priority and offer a legal framework for qualitative implementation of educational reforms, including structural reform in VET education and launching the independent bodies that will monitor and evaluate the quality assurance in Republic of Moldova.

The project purpose is:

To advance capacity of VET institutions offering ICT specializations in Moldova to a level that educational offers meet labor market needs and recognized quality standards.

The expected results of the project are:

  1. An ICT Centre of Excellence for Professional Education established and functions as a resource hub for teachers and an attractive education provider to students in cooperation with the ICT sector.
  2. Information about career paths in ICT relevant professions that can be obtained in VET institutions made available to the public in a sustainable manner.
  3. Basic standards, organizational procedures and work processes of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Professional Education (ANACIP) developed to create the basis for ANACIP to fulfill its public mandate.

Objectives of the audit

The objective of the audit of the „Partnerships for quality and relevance in ICT vocational education in Moldova“ project’s financial statements is to enable the auditors to express an independent professional opinion on the periodical and final financial position of the project and to ensure that the funds granted to the Project have been used for their intended purposes.

The project budget provides the basis for preparation of the „Partnerships for quality and relevance in ICT vocational education in Moldova“  project’s financial statements by the project implementing partners that are established to reflect the financial transactions in respect of the project. The implementing partners maintain adequate internal controls and supporting documentation for respective project transactions.

The audit will express the opinion on the total project budget, including the contribution in cash by the project applicant Educational Center PRO DIDACTICA and its local project partner ATIC (National Association of Private ICT Companies).

Scope of audit
To achieve the above objectives, the audit company will perform the following tasks:

  1. The audit shall be conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISA) issued by IFAC – International Federation of Accountants , with special attention to ISA 800 ” Independent Auditor’s Report on Special Purpose Audit Engagements ” , and therefore the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants;

The audit process will consider in particular the following:

  1. All Project funds have been used and recorded in accordance with the conditions of the grant agreement Nr. 8295-00/2015 and of the Project Document, with due attention to economy and efficiency and only for the purposes for which the funds were provided;
  2. Third-party contributions (co-financing) have been provided, used and recorded in accordance with the conditions of the grant agreement Nr. 8295-00/2015 and of the Project Document, with due attention to economy and efficiency and only for the purposes for which they were provided;
  3. Goods, works and services financed have been procured in accordance with the rules and procedures defined by the grant agreement Nr. 8295-00/2015 and by the Project Document and recorded properly;
  4. If the expenditure for a transaction or a transaction have been properly recorded in the accounting system and the Financial Report and whether they are supported by documentary evidence;
  5. If expenditures are in accordance with the project budget (budget lines respect and approval of changes if they occurred);
  6. If all of the supporting documents are present and maintained as required by the grant agreement;
  7. If all financial reports submitted to Austrian Development Agency correspond to actual costs incurred, and if they correspond to the organization’s accounting system ;
  8. Bank accounts have been maintained in accordance with the provisions, rules, and procedures of the grant agreement Nr. 8295-00/2015 and of the Project Document;
  9. Special attention will be given to financial reports to donors, i.e. if the reports were prepared in accordance with the conditions specified in the grant contract and standard accounting principles and give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Project as of the audited period;
  10. The auditors will audit the invoices and will receive access of both project partners – Educational Centre PRO DIDACTICA and ATIC.

General information

The auditors will be given access to all legal documents, correspondence and any other information associated with the project and deemed necessary by them.

It is recommended that the auditors become familiar with the following project documents:

  • Project Document, including all relevant annexes
  • Grant Agreement Nr. 8295-00/2015, including general terms and conditions (esp. relevant conditions for auditing)
  • Co-Financing Agreements between the grant recipients and third parties

Audit / reporting schedule

The audit reports for respective periods shall be submitted as follows:

  1. The financial audit report for the period 01.12.2015 – 30.11.2016 at latest by 31 January 2017;
  2. The financial audit report for the period 01.12.2016 – 30.11.2017 at latest by 31 January 2018;
  3. The final financial audit report for the period 01.12.2017 – 30.11.2018 at latest by 28 February  2019.

During the project will be conducted 3 audits.

Audit Plan and Audit Report will be submitted to the Educational Center PRO – staff and to the Austrian Development Agency;

The Audit Company is responsible for the confidentiality of information and documents to which he had access during the mission.

Audit report

The audit report will comprise (i) the auditors’ opinion on the project financial statements and (ii) a complete set of project’s financial statements and other relevant statements including at least:

  1. Statement of Receipts (funds received by the donors, funds received by third party as in-cash contributions to the project);
  2. Statement of Expenditures (expenditures incurred during the period for which the audit takes place);
  3. Procurement documentation (if applicable) proving that project procurement activities have been conducted in accordance with the grant agreement Nr. 8295-00/2015 and the Project Document, including any notes describing procurement procedures;
  4. A detailed comprehensive list of all fixed assets purchased, with given detailed description of type of asset, technical identification, date of purchase, price of purchase, value and condition at date of report, location at date of report;
  5. A detailed comprehensive list of single expenditures / invoices / receipts / cash payments or reconciliation list of bookkeeping.

Any ineligible expenditure will be disclosed in an annex to the audit report.

Management Letter

In addition to the audit report, the auditors will prepare a “management letter” which will include:

  1. Comments and recommendations on possible deficiencies concerning internal control systems and other matters that the auditor considers necessary to inform management about;
  2. Identify specific deficiencies and areas for improvement in the internal control systems and make recommendations on their improvement;
  3. Report on the implementation status of recommendations pertaining to previous period audit reports;
  4. Report on the compliance of all financial obligations;
  5. Communicate all issues or incidents occurred during the implementation of audits that have had or may have a serious impact on project implementation;
  6. Warnings to the Austrian Development Agency about any other issues that are considered important and relevant.

Audit Reports will be written and signed in two copies, one for Educational Center PRO DIDACTICA staff and one for the Austrian Development Agency.
The reports must be prepared both in Romanian and in English.