International Public Sector Auditing Standard (IPSAS) Adoption Service Terms of Reference (TOR)

International public sector Auditing Standard (IPSAS) Adoption Service Terms of Reference (TOR)

Background

Finnish Refugee Council (FRC) (www.refugeecouncil.fi) is an international non-governmental organisation with Head Office in Helsinki.

FRC advocates for the rights of refugees, displaced populations, and migrants, and supports their new beginnings. By reinforcing equality and creating opportunities for everyone to lead a good life, FRC promotes the establishment of stable and peaceful societies.

To support the vulnerable groups of refugees and Internally displaced population (IDPs),FRC implements mainly Education (non formal adult education – FAL), protection, Livelihoods and cash support. Moreover,all our activities in Ethiopia place emphasis on capacity building for the most vulnerable members of societies and supports their active participation within respective communities. At the core of FRC’s work is inclusion of vulnerable groups and therefore, special emphasis is placed on the protection of persons with disabilities, women, and youth in all activities.

FRC was registered in Ethiopia and accorded legal status through Registry Number 4184 on 11th of June 2019 as a Foreign Organization.

Finnish Refugee Council (FRC) in Ethiopia currently seeks to hire a consultant for Adoption, Conversion and Implementation of International public sector Auditing Standard (IPSAS) to enhance relevance, reliability and comparability of financial statements to meet the government requirements and international standards.

Scope of Work and Key Deliverables:

• Adopt IPSAS standards that are being applied in preparation of financial statements & Prepare IPSAS based annual financial statements for FY 2025.
• Support implementation of accrual basis IPSAS in preparing the annual financial statements of FRC.
• Review existing Accounting & Finance policies and update considering all IPSAS Standards.
• Developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Manuals, Checklists and template as required to guide IPSAS implementation.
• Provide training and Equip FRC Finance team with sound understanding, Knowledge and required skills for application of each standard when preparing IPSAS compliant financial statements.

The Summary Scope of services are as follows:

Duties and Responsibilities of Finnish Refugee Council (FRC) Ethiopia’s

• FRC-Ethiopia will evaluate all the financial and technical information provided by the consultant firm, inform and award the winning firm. If the winning firm accepts the award, FRC signs the required contract agreement with the firm. FRC will pay a service fee agreed on the contract agreement. The mode of payment shall be stated both on the quote and in the contract agreement.
• FRC-Ethiopia presents financial statements and all required documents as well as fixed asset lists on time to the consultant. It provides all the information and explanation that might be required for the purpose of the adoption of IPSAS.

IPSAS Training:

• 7– 10 staff trained on all relevant standards.

Conversion Support

• Full migration from current accounting framework to IPSAS

Report Preparation

• Prepare IPSAS based annual financial statements for FY 2025 as reference sample.

Asset Valuation

• All organizational properties (Country office + 2 field offices)

SOP Preparation

• Develop customized IPSAS implementation manual
• Include step-by-step guides for:
• Transaction recording
• Asset classification
• Financial reporting
• Provide templates for IPSAS compliance documentation

Timeline

• To be decided with selected consultant/firm

Qualifications

• Profile of relevant experience and related work
• Biographies of proposed consulting team members
• The consulting firm should have experience and certified for competency from accounting, and Auditing Board of Ethiopia (AABE) to provide accounting and Auditing service.
• Legally Eligible to undertake the project (i.e. Business license, ToT/VAT, TIN, etc)
• IPSAS Training of Trainers (ToT) certification and professional credentials
• Recommendation letters especially from NGO sector