Invitation to Tender

External Audit Services for RIPPLE EFFECT BURUNDI

Tenders must be received at the following address no later than 9 a.m on Friday 21^st June 2024: Ripple Effect Burundi, N° 10, Boulevard Mao Tse Tung, ROHERO, Tél 22 27 80 85, 67, 67585159

Please mark the envelope ‘tender for external audit services’

Please provide 3 copies of the tender in printed form.

Contents

Section A                                 Background and structure of RIPPLE EFFECT BURUNDI

Section B                                 Statement and scope of requirements

Section C                                 Documents to be submitted

Section D                                Additional requests for information

Section A

Background

Ripple Effect Burundi wishes to engage a service provider to undertake external audit services for the charity. Our year end is 30 June.

Ripple Effect is a growing and dynamic international development charity providing training, and ongoing support to smallholder farmers in Africa. We give poor families and communities the hope and the means to secure their own futures from the land, in line with our vision of a confident and thriving rural Africa. Ripple Effect was set up in 1988, now working in 6 African countries. Ripple Effect Burundi has 10 years’ experience of delivering successful agricultural development projects and its’ work is highly regarded in the country.

Our vision: A confident and thriving Rural Africa

Our mission: To give communities and families the hope and the means to secure their own futures from the lands.

Structure

Ripple Effect Burundi is a subsidiary of ‘Ripple Effect International’, who are based in the UK. Ripple Effect International has its head office based in Bath, UK, where our fundraising team and organisational support team is based. The UK Office has a subsidiary, Ripple Effect, based in Nairobi, Kenya who provide technical thematic support across all of Ripple Effect’s Country Programmes.

Ripple Effect Burundi has a locally based finance team and reports to the Country Director.

The accounting system is on cloud based system called PS Financials.

Regular financial and programme monitoring reports are sent from the Ripple Effect Burundi team to be reviewed by Ripple Effect International, and the Ripple Effect Senior Leadership Team. Overall review of the charity’s activities is governed by Ripple Effect International’s Board of Trustees, based in the UK.

Annually, Ripple Effect Burundi prepares financial statements that are required to be audited by local auditors. The results of Ripple Effect Burundi are also included in the consolidated group accounts that are prepared by the finance team in the UK.

A copy of the Accounts for Ripple Effect Burundi to June 2023 are available on request. Additional information on our activities in Africa, our impact, and the consolidated group accounts can be obtained from our website www.rippleeffect.org

Projects

Ripple Effect Burundi currently receives funding from Bread for the World, Heineken Foundation and UNICEF. Bread for the World funding requires a separate audit of our project expenditure, which is organized by the partner – this is not required as part of the audit tender.

Funding is also raised by Ripple Effect International, from Trusts, Corporate Partners, and Individuals support. These funds are transferred to Ripple Effect Burundi on a monthly basis, based on the cash flow requirements and in line with the agreed budget.

Section B

Statement of Requirements

The contract will cover the external audit service for three financial years starting 2023/24 to 2025/2026. Extension of the contract will be considered based on satisfactory performance.

Scope of Services Required

The services to be provided are;

• The audit of Statutory accounts for Ripple Effect Burundi, for a 30 June year end, to ensure compliance with NGO filing requirements
• Review of compliance for employment laws, legal requirements and our constitution, tax laws, and our finance manual
• The provision of a comprehensive management letter
• Completion of an audit questionnaire to our group auditors of Ripple Effect (Hays Macintyre)

Other Information

Our year end is 30 June and must be signed off by the end of September each year. We require draft audited accounts and draft management letters by the end of August each year.  This timetable is important to allow us to comply with NGO reporting requirements, and to ensure the final accounts for Ripple Effect Burundi are included in the consolidated Ripple Effect International accounts.

We would expect all audit firms to be able to work within this year end timetable.

We would expect a no-surprise audit with regular updates during the onsite fieldwork. We would expect regular communication throughout the year to keep us updated on changes to any relevant accounting and compliance laws or standards that are relevant to us.

Firms will be judged during this tender process on the following criteria;

• Experience and expertise in the NGO Sector and demonstrable technical expertise in accounting for charities;
• Experience of charitable bodies with similar needs within the last three years and evidence of understanding the challenges and constraints within the NGO sector;
• The quality and experience of the proposed external audit team;
• The suitability of the audit approach;
• The ability for the audit firm to ‘add value’ rather than providing a compliance audit
• Cost of the audit

Short-listed audit firms will be invited to present and discuss their proposals on 21^th June at the  office of Ripple Effect Burundi.

Ripple Effect will not be liable to reimburse any costs incurred by the service provider during this tender process.

Section C

Documents to be submitted

To assist the Tender panel in the evaluation process, all proposals submitted must follow the following format. Failure to provide all or part of the information may result in your tender being excluded from the evaluation process.

Section 1

Background information on your firm, including size and location.

Section 2

Details of the previous experience you have in the audit of International NGO’s, and experience in keeping up to date with the challenges facing the Sector. Please provide details of your firm’s philosophy on communication with clients throughout the year.

Please provide your current list of NGO clients you act for.

Section 3

Details of the engagement team you have assigned to deliver these audit services. Please provide;

• Name of employee, job title, accountancy qualification, other professional qualifications; date they joined your firm; number of years’ experience in the Not for Profit/ NGO Sector; current and previous work experience.
• Please detail your firm’s plans to ensure continuity of staff on the audit.
• Please provide a table showing the hourly rate and number of hours expected to be involved from each grade nominated in your team, for a typical annual audit of Ripple Effect.

Please provide details of any areas of technical expertise within the firm that can be called on to support the audit team and to provide advice to the Board and management of Ripple Effect Burundi as required.

Section 4

Please detail your audit methodology, including planning, fieldwork and reporting.

Please provide a suggested timetable and whom would be involved in each stage. Please include details of how much input you would require from Ripple Effect staff, and when.

Please provide details on how you plan to transition from our prior auditors, and any work that your team and Ripple Effect finance team will be expected to complete, and when.

Please provide an example of the standard report template.

Section 5

Please confirm the annual fee (inclusive of expenses, including taxes) for the 3-year contract.

Section 6

Quality is of upmost importance. Please confirm your firm’s arrangements to ensure a high quality audit is planned and carried out.

Section D

Anyone requiring additional information should contact;

Alida INEZA/ Gloria NIMPUNDU

Finance and Admin Officer/ Country Director

alida.ineza@rippleeffect.org

Gloria.Nimpundu@rippleeffect.org