World Wide Fund for Nature Zambia (WWF Zambia) is part of WWF International, the world’s  leading independent conservation organisation with a global network in over 100 countries. Our  mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which  people live in harmony with nature, for the benefit of both people and nature. The organisation has  been working in Zambia since 1962; focusing on wildlife, forests, freshwater, people, and livelihoods.

Worldwide Fund for Nature Zambia (WWF Zambia) is requiring the services of a qualified external auditor to conduct an audit on one of our partners for the period from January 2022 to June 2024.

Objective

The objective of the forensic audit for the project is to put in place a review process to ensure that:

1.  The Project funds are used for the purposes intended.

2.  Appropriate controls are in place to prevent or detect material misstatements, and other irregularities.

3.  The procurement procedures outlined in the Procurement Guidelines and Credit Agreements are followed.

4.  Project Manager and other project staff have not colluded with the Partner to defraud WWF and misuse project funding.

5.  Economy, efficiency and effectiveness have been achieved in the procurement process consistent with transparency.

Scope

The scope of the forensic audit includes the following and any additional areas that the consultant might consider  necessary during the review:

• Review the WWF Zambia’s procedures related to contracting of partners to establish their adequacy in  ensuring an objective and transparent process and determine if the project acted in compliance with the established policies.
• Review of the Internal Control Framework for the partner. This will include but not limited to, assessing whether internal control procedures are sufficient to prevent financial irregularities and misappropriation; approval procedures and delegation of financial authority; segregation of duties, clarities on roles and responsibilities are defined; reconciliation procedures; functions; procedures followed for verifying receipt and acknowledgement of goods and services with agreed quality and timeline.
• Determine if appropriate and adequate controls are in place to prevent or detect fraud, corruption and irregularities within the project.
• Review of ownership of partners (boards, management), potential conflict of interests and focus on persons of interest, etc. (and their links to Client’s staff)
• Review and analyze the potential red flags that may indicate inappropriate financial reporting schemes,  misappropriation of assets, inappropriate use of project assets, and expenditures and liabilities for an improper purpose. The auditor should apply appropriate techniques for detecting irregularities and deviations. The auditor must be proficient enough to thoroughly understand and be alert to potential red flags that are possible indicators of irregularities and likely indicators of areas requiring further analysis.
• Facilitate a 100% expenditure verification audit for the partner.
• Identify expenditures which have been made but are not eligible for funding from project funds.
• If applicable: scan the ledgers of other partners for additional suspicious or related party transactions charged to the Client’s project.
• Examine the advances from project account, especially for workshops and meetings to determine eligibility of expenditure, i.e., whether it conforms to existing policy and rules and reasonableness of time for adjustment. Verify whether any form of advance is claimed as actual expenditure. Randomly select a subset of advances made to the Project Manager and other project staff. Verify the end use of these funds by contacting beneficiaries and ensuring payments correspond to legitimate project activities.
• Investigate any transactions which could be deemed ineligible to determine whether they could be fraudulent and to determine culpability.
• Review of the arrangements for managing the bank accounts, including tracing all withdrawals and transfers and determine these are maintained and operated as per agreed arrangements. Unspent balance is returned or adjusted and confirmation is obtained. Find out whether project fund is held in any unauthorized bank account.
• Assess the procedure of enrolment of beneficiaries, e.g. workshop participants were correctly made as per agreed framework and examine whether payments are made to eligible recipients with sufficient audit trail in place.
• Verify on cases where material cash payments are made for any project expenditure, particularly for  goods or services which would otherwise be made using cheques and confirm the reasons for this and  the justification. Also, verify whether cash withdrawn in personal name and timeline within which cash was withdrawn. were fully expensed.
• Examine reported corruption or red flags, from any source and substantiate the irregularities. Also, verify fraud prevention and detection mechanisms that may exist in the project.
• Review the existence and adequacy of financial and procurement policies and procedures applicable to  the project partners as well as adherence to them (provide report on the findings, linked to recommendations for future prevention).
• Examine whether the projects maintain all necessary books of accounts and that the information used  to prepare the project financial report is extracted from the project cashbook and ledgers; Bank reconciliation is done in a timely manner and Statements are available.
• Review all the suspicious transactions against the supporting documents (procurement, invoices, proof  of payment, proof of delivery, possible third-party authentication).

Sampling

For expenditure verification, sample should be 95% coverage.

Reporting

Compile a comprehensive report detailing the findings, including:

-Summary of verified transactions.

-Any discrepancies or fraudulent activities identified.

-Recommendations for corrective actions and future preventive measures.

Presentation

-Present the final report to senior management and relevant stakeholders.

-Provide clear evidence and documentation to support findings.

Timeline

Week 1-2: Data collection and preliminary analysis.

Week 1-2: Detailed verification of transactions and spot checks.

Week 3: Compilation of findings and preparation of the preliminary report.

Week 3: Final report preparation and presentation to stakeholders.

Interested audit firms must submit, their applications via email to: zcoprocurement@wwfzam.org clearly  specified as below:

1.  Email subject must Cleary state- partner audit

2.  Proposal cover letter should be clearly titled – partner audit

All submissions should be received by WWF Zambia Via the specified email address no later than 19  July, 2024.