Organisation

Hoffnungszeichen | Sign of Hope e.V.

www.hoffnungszeichen.de, www.sign-of-hope.org

Position

Auditor

Type of Contract

Short-term consultancy

Type of Audit

In depth

Location

Home-based, Yerevan, if needed with field mission travel to Tavush, Gegharkunik, Vayotz Dzor and Syunik, Armenia

Languages Required

English, Armenian

Application Deadline

13th May 2025

Starting Date

10th July 2025

End Date

25th August 2025

Auditing Period

From September 2024 to July/August 2025

Project Title

Comprehensive assistance to refugees from Nagorno Karabakh and vulnerable host communities in rural border regions through protection services, shelter and winterization support.

Total Project Budget

2.096.000 EURO

Hoffnungszeichen | Sign of Hope e.V. (SoH) is announcing an open tender procedure for external independent financial audit services in Armenia.

Background and Organisational Setting

SoH is a Christian motivated organisation for Humanitarian Assistance, Development Cooperation and Human Rights. Based in Constance, Germany, SoH is dedicated to helping those in distress and exploited people worldwide.

This audit is commissioned under the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) budget for humanitarian projects.

SoH is the private German executing agency and the contracting party, with Development Principles (DP), Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) and Acted Armeniabeing the local implementing partners.

The aim of the project is to support refugees from Nagorno Karabakh and Armenian host communities. SoH and its partners aim to assist approx. 8.000 people focusing on

• protection, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS),
• shelter, winterization and NFI/ voucher distribution and
• information management.

Refugees, especially women, children and elderly face significant protection risks due to trauma, loss and lack of access to essential services. There is a strong need for psychosocial support, particularly in remote areas. The project mainstreams protection and provides support such as psychosocial assistance, legal advice and outreach services. The provision of dignified shelter and essential items for displaced families and vulnerable groups is achieved through the delivery of NFI and the rehabilitation of disability-friendly shelters. Additionally, winterization support is offered to refugees to address heating challenges. The project also aims to improve access to information services for vulnerable people in rural areas through service mapping, a referral hotline, IT equipment and training sessions for stakeholders.

Audit Objectives

The purpose of the in-depth audit is to provide SoH with a sound basis for its accountability, transparency and accuracy in the financial disclosure towards the funding agency GFFO. The tasks of this recruitment relate to:

• A conclusive examination of the complete project duration as far as documents are already available until end of assignment (September 2024 –July/August 2025).

This in-depth audit will verify the compliance with standards of the funding agency GFFO, SoH, national regulations and the international accounting standards (ISA).

The auditor will review the project’s financial documents, receipts lists, records of transactions, all vouchers and receipts disbursed, and relevant project documents in order to come up with a professional, independent opinion on the financial accounting of the project “Comprehensive assistance to refugees from Nagorno Karabakh and vulnerable host communities in rural border regions through protection services, shelter and winterization support” for all funds received and expended by the partner organisations from September 2024 to July/August 2025.

Additionally, the audit shall give recommendations on strengths, weaknesses, and required improvements in the project-related financial and human resources management systems of DP, FAR and Acted Armenia.

The audit will support the project quality assurance measures implemented by SoH and contribute to the decision-making process with regard to the project management and monitoring of finances by SoH and partner organisations.

Expected Deliverables

The auditor is expected to produce an audit report, an audit certificate and a management letter, which will comprise the following:

1. Presentation of the scope and mandate of the audit, as well as the list of documents that formed the evidence for the audit,
2. An opinion whether financial statements (statement of accounts for the complete project duration) are issued in accordance with the financial reporting framework of the project, GFFO requirements and the internationally recognized accounting standards,
3. A checked, signed and stamped list of all project costs receipts, sorted by GFFO budget lines (list is provided by the local implementing partners),
4. Recommendations on identified shortcomings.

Audit documents shall be issued in English.

Scope of the Audit

The audit should focus on the following:

• The correctness and completeness of the accounting records,
• The financial report, showing the entire project related income and expenditures structured by budget lines,
• Deviations of expenditure by budget lines. The expenditure, which exceeds or falls below the budget appropriations by more than 20%, shall be explained separately, if the approval of the GFFO has not previously been obtained,
• That receipts and relevant supporting documents are available for all project related income and expenditures,
• The management of the funds made available, which includes the transfer of project funds, all interest earned from the project funds during the reporting period and further income generated by the project,
• Reviewing the appropriate use of funds according to the project objectives,
• Evaluation of the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the usage of funds,
• Budget adherence through the comparison between budgeted and actual costs in the currency in which the expenditure was incurred. The audit report will not convert the examined amounts into the Euro amounts,
• Reviewing if personnel costs and social security contributions conform to the regulations in the project country and are locally comparable,
• The economical use of the project equipment and assets,
• The inventory and the use of capital items, their whereabouts and their purposive usage,
• Compliance with the legal framework of the project (project agreements and annexes, contracts, etc.) and the donor requirements especially regarding procurement,
• Compliance with the policies of the local implementing partner regarding financial administration, human resources management and travel.

Procedures and Communication

The auditor will be given access to all necessary documents in the project offices through the local implementing partner organisations as well as relevant donor documents through SoH.

The auditor will be responsible to set up a schedule in agreement with the local implementing partners. The expected amount is between 15 to 20 working days. The partner organisations will support the auditor with logistics and arrangements, however, all payments of the contract will be made directly by SoH.

Qualifications and Experience

• Necessary qualification to serve as a recognized independent auditing authority,
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience conducting external independent audits of projects funded by international institutional donors in Armenia,
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Armenian,
• Experience in conducting audits for GFFO-funded projects is beneficial.

How to Apply:

Application Process

Please submit the following documents as PDF files with the subject line “ Financial Audit GFFO Project, ER-ARM24.02” to procurement@sign-of-hope.org no later than 13th May 2025, 23:59 CEST:

• Technical Proposal (as per Terms of Reference above) of no more than 2 pages, including approach, timeframe and methodology to be used,
• A financial proposal (in EUR, incl. all taxes), including professional daily fees and all other relevant costs (appropriate travel costs will be reimbursed based on submitted receipts upon prior approval and are not considered as part of the quotation);
• A qualification certificate of a recognized independent auditing authority as confirmed by a relevant institution in the project country (for example, a chamber of commerce, national association of auditors or another relevant organisation),
• A reference list of three previous relevant customers.

Companies as well as independent auditors are invited for this tender.

Please note that due to a large number of applications we may limit establishing contact to shortlisted applicants. Bids received after deadline will not be considered. If offers are incomplete, bidders may be able to hand in missing documents within a deadline upon request by SoH.

The selection of the auditor will be conducted by SoH. Interviews with shortlisted candidates will be held online. The Audit Agreement will be set up by SoH. Audit Agreements set up by auditors won’t be accepted.

Criteria and weighting for the evaluation of the submitted proposals:

1. Essential and desirable competencies, proposed methodology: 40 %
2. Financial proposal (fee): 35 %
3. Performance during interview: 20 %
4. Number of years of relevant experience above the minimum criteria: 5 %