Call for Proposal: External Auditor

Terms of Reference for External Auditor

Belantara Foundation

Period covered by the audit: January 1—December 31, 2019

1. Background

   Belantara Foundation is an Indonesian grant-making institution formed in 2014 with the goal of delivering wide-ranging community and conservation results. It takes its name from the Indonesian word 'Belantara,' which means wilderness or pristine forest.

   We work to protect the Indonesian landscape by funding local projects in areas that are set aside for conservation, reforestation, and sustainable community development.

   The Belantara Foundation's primary focus is to allocate grants to support restoration, protection, conservation of endangered species (specifically Sumatran Tigers, Sumatran Elephants, as well as the Sumatran and Bornean Orangutans), institutional development, and community development and empowerment initiatives in conservation areas, production forests, protection forests, and social forestry in the ten specified grant distribution areas across five provinces on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

   Working with local communities, governments, the private sector, and NGOs, the Belantara Foundation relies on a multi-stakeholder approach to better inform decision-making when addressing resource management problems. With the Essential Ecosystem Areas (KEE) stretching across the grant distribution areas, a coordinated response between all stakeholders for effective management and preservation of critical ecosystems is required.

   As an independent foundation, the Belantara Foundation aims to work with all parties that share its goals, coordinating and collaborating with partners within each of its ten specified grant distribution areas. Belantara aims to ensure that existing initiatives are aligned, minimizing the risk of projects overlapping while maximizing information and data sharing.

   In 2016–2019, Belantara Foundation had an agreement with all grantees in the provinces of Riau, West Kalimantan, South Sumatra, and Jambi; to be consistent with the grant agreements, the Foundation must ensure that all grant funds are well managed and implemented appropriately follwing the SOP and is consistent with the program's objective. To assure it, the Belantara Foundation is seeking an independent external auditor. The scope of the audit will be the financial statement for the implementing period of January 1 – December 31, 2019, and the entire funds that the Belantara Foundation has disbursed to 8 grantees; therefore, the selected firm will conduct an audit for 9 institutions.

2. Objectives of the Audit
   1. To enable the auditor to express a professional opinion on the financial position of the Grant programs for period of January 1–December 31, 2019, and confirm the received funds and expenditures for the reporting period reported by the Belantara Foundation and the Grantees in particular, has in all material respects been used in conformity with the provisions of the Grant Agreements, including any amendments and any applicable guidelines in force and applicable to the audit scope.
   2. To confirm that the financial statements are in accord with the program accounts (books of account), which provide the basis for the preparation of the financial statements and are established to reflect the financial transactions in respect of the program maintained by the program implementing entities.
   3. To confirm that the financial statements agree or reconcile with any other information reported.
3. Audit Scope of Work
   1. The audit will be carried out in accordance with Standards on Auditing
   2. In conducting the audit, special attention should be paid to the following:
      1. Compliance with applicable legislation
      2. Grant expenditures
      3. System of internal controls
      4. Designated bank accounts - Where Designated Accounts (including those been used under an approved pooled funding program implementation mechanism) have been used by Belantara and all grantees, and ensure that it has been maintained in accordance with the provisions of the Grant agreement and in accordance with Belantara’s rules and procedures. The auditors should examine:
         • The eligibility and correctness of financial transactions during the period under review and the account balance at the end of the period;
         • The operation and use of the account is in accordance with the Grant Agreement, Implementation or Management Letters; and
         • The adequacy of internal controls over the operation of the account.
      5. Safeguarding of assets
      6. Goods and services
      7. Disbursements to Grantees
      8. Data retention and supporting documentation - All necessary supporting documents, records, and accounts have been retained in compliance with provision of the Grant Agreement. Procedures exist for security and management of electronic data (backup systems and procedures, etc.)
4. Output
   1. Auditor's Report
      1. In preparing the audit report, the selected audit firm will issue an appropriate audit opinion in accordance with TaC
      2. Audited financial statement
   2. Management Letter
      1. In addition to the audit report, the auditors will prepare a management letter
      2. It must clearly be noted on the face of the Management Letter that it is a confidential document and must be treated as so
      3. The Management Letter should state that the auditor acknowledges and agrees that the Management Letter shall be shared with Belantara on a confidential basis.
5. Qualification of External Auditor
   1. The Public Accountant Firm should be independent or not related to the management or financial aspects of the auditee. It's stated on Integrity Pact signed both by Public Accountant Firm and Belantara.
   2. The Public Accountant Firm should have a valid operation permit as a public accountant in Indonesia. This firm should hire staff with the required educational background.
   3. The auditor should have experience in standard audit implementation and fully acknowledge the auditee's company background.
   4. All staff should have a bachelor's degree in accounting or auditing, proved by Curriculum Vitae. Audit teams having experience in non-governmental organizations will have an advantage.
   5. The auditor team should consist of an auditor manager (1 person), a senior auditor (1 person), and junior auditors (3 persons).
   6. The auditor will conduct an audit in the Belantara Foundation's office and also do assessment visits to all grantees.

For those interested, please do apply by sending an offering quotation to email address biraningrum@belantara.or.id with the subject of External Audit.

Closing date: January 7, 2020