Statutory Auditor for RET Liban

SELECTION OF AUDITORS

 

RET Liban invites Certified Accountants Firms to submit their proposals for the preparation of its annual audited financial statements and related information for the 1-year period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. The audited financial statement must be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. They must also include an expression of an opinion by the auditor on the fairness of the financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

 

ORGANISATION BACKGROUND

 

RET Liban is an independent, neutral, non-religious, non-political, non-governmental local Lebanese organization, affiliated to RET Germany eingetragener Verein (e. V.)  an independent German organisation, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

 

Since 2014, RET has started its operations in Lebanon, responding to the most substantial gaps in education, protection, social cohesion and livelihoods, supporting the displaced populations in Lebanon, while targeting the most vulnerable community members, with particular attention given to youth and women.

 

RET Liban is committed to protecting communities by ensuring the resilience of vulnerable people, affected by displacement, violence, armed conflict and disasters.

 

RET Liban is currently implementing a project focusing on youth from both the host and refugee communities aiming towards achieving resilience, peacebuilding and social stability through responsible community leadership, the provision of lifesaving and employability skills, facilitating access and retention to school, developing and implementing of Quick Impact Projects. The project is funded by the Federal foreign office of Germany. 

 

RET Liban’s vision is to continue growing and expanding its interventions, reaching out and empowering the most vulnerable and marginalized communities and building resilient societies for more stable, peaceful and prosperous nation.

 

RET Germany e. V.:

RET Germany e.V. relies on two decades of experience bridging humanitarian and developmental approaches providing a broad diversity of programmes aimed at protecting and building the resilience of youth and women affected by crisis.

 

Relevant skills and capacities to build more stable communities are the main services RET provides to both youth and women made vulnerable by displacement, violence, armed conflict and disasters. These are the means by which they will be able to durably face the challenges and risks of the fragile environments in which they live.

 

To date, RET has been able to positively impact the lives of just over 1.3 million learners, 55% of whom are women. Among them, 12’500 youth leaders have been trained and nearly 300 tertiary education scholarships managed, paving the way to more peaceful and stable communities by empowering a generation of young people to become actors of positive social change. Our actions have also led to the construction, renovation or equipment of over 1’500 schools and centres, the training of more than 27’300 educators as well as the capacity building of numerous local and even national education administrations. In all, RET has reached over 6.5 million indirect beneficiaries.

 

RET envisions a world in which the actions of empowered youth and women lead their communities out of crises and towards stronger social cohesion, peace, stability and prosperity. To achieve this goal, RET relies on two decades of experience bridging humanitarian and developmental approaches to act efficiently within our main areas of interventions.

 

RET Liban requires the following services:

1. Annual financial audit of its Lebanon programme operations.

 

2. Preparation of Annual Financial Report.

 

3. Issuance of Management letter following the completion of the annual audit.

 

All audit proposals must include:

1. Evidence of the firm’s qualifications to provide the above services;
2. Background and experience in auditing, particularly of non-profit making International organisations;
3. The size and organisational structure of the auditor’s firm;
4. Names and qualifications of the staff members to be assigned RET’s audit;
5. Statement of the firm’s understanding of work to be performed, including review of internal controls and preparation of Financial statements.
6. A detailed work plan, including timelines and tasks to be carried out by auditors and RET’s staff bearing in mind the set timelines below;
7. Proposed fee structure for this service; and
8. At least three references from comparable audit clients.

    

The time frame for the audit process is as follows:

 

Feb. 22, 2019                          -    RFP advert published

March 04, 2019                      -    Deadline for RfP submission

March 08, 2019                      -    Selection and drafting engagement letter

March 29, 2019                      -    Audit and submission of draft report

April 03, 2019                        -    Discussion of Draft Reports

April 08, 2019                        -    Submission of final audit report to RET

 

You are requested to acknowledge receipt of this letter and to indicate whether or not you intend to submit a proposal given the timeframe indicated.

 

If you have any questions or would like further clarification of any aspect of this request for bid, please contact Mr. Ayman Abdallah- [email protected]

 

We look forward to receiving your proposal.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Ayman Abdallah

Country Director

 

Request for Proposal – Terms of Reference (TOR)

 

1. Cost of proposal

The Offeror shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of the Proposal, RET Liban will in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the solicitation.

 

1. Contents of solicitation documents

Proposals offering only part of the requirement will be rejected. The Offeror is expected to examine the above instructions keenly. Failure to comply with these requirements will be at the Offeror’s risk and may affect the evaluation of the Proposal.

 

1. Language of the proposal

The Proposals prepared by the Offeror and all correspondence and documents relating to the Proposal exchanged by the Offeror and RET shall be written in Arabic and English language.

 

1. Proposal currencies

All prices shall be quoted in USD

In addition to the proposal, a certificate of incorporation of the audit firm should be included as part of the offeror’s submissions

 

1. Sealing and marking of proposals

The Offeror shall seal the Proposal in one envelope, as detailed below.

 

1. The envelope shall be:

• addressed to –

RET Liban

Beirut, Achrafieh, Choukri Choukair, Assaad Eid Bldg. 3^rd floor

Tel: 01565466

• marked with as:

 

“RFP for Audit Services – RET Liban”

 

1. Deadline for submission of proposals

Proposals must be received by RET at the address specified no later than March 04, 2019, before 12:00 noon.

 

1. Late Proposals

Any Proposal received by RET after the deadline and time for submission of proposals will be rejected.

 

1. Modification and withdrawal of Proposals

The Offeror may withdraw its Proposal after the Proposal’s submission, provided that written notice of the withdrawal is received by RET prior to the deadline prescribed for submission of Proposals.

 

1. Opening of proposals

The procuring entity will open the Proposals in the presence of a Committee formed for that purpose at 12:00 noon local time on March 04, 2019 at the address stated in Paragraph 5 above.

 

1. Clarification of proposals

To assist in the examination, evaluation and comparison of Proposals, the Procuring entity may at its discretion, ask the Offeror for clarification of its Proposal. The request for clarification and the response shall be in writing and no change in price or substance of the Proposal shall be sought, offered or permitted.

1. Evaluation and comparison of proposals

A two-stage procedure will be utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical qualification being completed prior to any price component being reviewed and compared.  The Price Component will be reviewed only for those firms/institutions whose Technical Component meets the requirements for the assignment.  The total number of points which a firm may obtain for both components is 100.

 

The technical component, which has a total possible value of 70 points, will be evaluated using the following criteria:

 

1.    the profile of your firm (20 points);
2.    the qualifications and competence of the personnel proposed for the assignment for a total of (35 points); and
3.    the approach in implementing the tasks described in your proposal (15 points).

 

If the substantive/technical presentation of a proposal achieves the minimum threshold of 49 points, the competitiveness of the fees will be taken into account.

     

The total amount of points for the fee component is 30. The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest fees proposed, in case of a tie in proposed fee, the management of RET Liban will use its discretion on the eventual winner.

 

Please note that RET is not bound to select any of the firms submitting proposals. Furthermore, since a contract will be awarded in respect of the proposal which is considered most responsive to the needs of RET Liban, due consideration being given to RET’s general principles, including economy and efficiency, RET does not bind itself in any way to select the firm offering the lowest price.

 

Section II 

 

1. 1. Objective of audit services: The objective of the audit is to ensure that RET Liban receives adequate, independent, professional audit assurance that the grant proceeds provided by its donors are used for purposes intended in line with approved Budgets and AWPs and that the annual financial statements are free from material mis-statements and all the terms of agreements of the donors are complied with in all material respects.

 

1. 1. Standards: The audit will be carried out in accordance with International Auditing Standards. The auditor should accordingly consider materiality when planning and performing (except where a certain minimum coverage of implementing units is specified) the audit to reduce the risk to an acceptable level that is consistent with the objective of the audit. In addition, the auditor should specifically consider the risk of material misstatements in the financial statements resulting from fraud.

 

1. 1. Scope & Coverage of audit: The scope of audit services shall be in accordance with International Standards for Audit (ISA) and cover the overall management of the different project’s implementation, monitoring and supervision.  The audit work should include the review of work plans, progress reports, programme resources, programme budgets, programme expenditure, programme delivery, recruitment, operational and financial closing of programme (if applicable) and disposal or transfer of assets.  In conducting the audit special attention should be paid to the following:

 

1. An assessment of adequacy of the programme financial systems, including financial controls. This should include aspects such as adequacy and effectiveness of accounting, financial and operational controls; level of compliance with established policies, plans and procedures; reliability of accounting systems, data and financial reports; methods of remedying weak controls; verification of assets and liabilities; a specific report on this aspect would be provided by the auditor as part of the management letter;

 

1. Funds have been spent in accordance with the condition laid down in the funding agreement from time to time with due attention to economy and efficiency, and only for the purpose for which the financing was provided.

 

1. Goods and services financed have been procured in accordance with the relevant procurement guidelines as laid down in RET field policies and procedures manual and have all the necessary supporting documentation.

 

1. Expenditures if any, ineligible for financing by the PRM are disclosed adequately in the financial statements.

 

1. The competitiveness, transparency and effectiveness of the recruitment and hiring of personnel and include performance appraisal, preparation and payment, and management of personnel records.

 

1. All necessary supporting documents, records and accounts have been kept in respect of the programme.

 

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Sample Coverage of the programme: The sample shall be selected in a manner that gives confidence on the conclusions drawn thereof.

 

 

1. 1. Institutional Financial Statements

 

Consolidated Institutional Financial Statement shall include the following:

 

1. Statement of financial position (assets, liabilities, and net assets and liabilities)
2. Statement of activities (revenue, support, and expenses) and changes in net assets
3. Statement of cash flows
4. Audit Opinion in suitable format with due consideration to the fact that RET maintains its books on Cash basis.
5. Other Schedules as appropriate, but which shall include;

 

1. • • • Statement of Fixed Assets in the form of a Schedule,
       • Schedule of all Cash & Bank Balances (attach bank reconciliation statements),
       • Programme specific statement of expenditure.
2. Notes on Accounts showing the accounting policies followed in the preparation of accounts and any other significant observation of the auditor.
3. Representation by Management: RET Liban management should sign the financial statements and provide a written acknowledgement of its responsibility for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements and an assertion that the programme funds have been expended in accordance with the intended purposes as reflected in the financial statements.

 

1. 1. Management Letter:

 

      In addition to the audit report, the auditor will prepare a “Management Letter” in which the auditor should summarise the observation on the Internal control issues (other than those which materially affect his opinion on the financial statements) as under:

 

• Give comments and observations on the accounting records, systems and internal controls that were examined during the course of the audit;
• Identify specific deficiencies and area of weakness in the system and internal controls and make recommendations for their improvement;
• Report on the level of compliance with the financial internal control, procedures as documented in RET field finance policies and procedures manual (FFM);
• Report any procurement which has not been carried out as per relevant RET policies
• Communicate matters that have come to the attention during the audit which might have significant impact on the financial statements; and
• Bring to management’s attention any other matter that the auditor considers pertinent.

 

The observations in the management letter must be accompanied by the implications, suggested recommendations from the auditors and management comments on the Observations/ recommendations have to be obtained and reported.

 

 

 

1. 1. Reporting and Timing

 

The final Audit Report should be submitted by April 08, 2019 in 3 copies (Spiral Bound) and also soft copy in Excel. A scanned copy of the financial statements and audit report is also to be submitted in mail along with the management letter signed by the Auditor and RET management.