| Overview : UNDP works in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria, State Governments, Development Partners, UN agencies, Civil Society Organizations and Local Communities to help identify local solutions to meet National development challenges through a range of interventions that combine UNDP’s expertise and comparative advance in the areas of Sustainable Development, Inclusive Growth, and Governance & Peace building. Institutions designated to manage UNDP projects are referred to as "implementing partner". Where the project is nationally implemented (NIM), this will refer to a government institution. Where the project is NGO executed, this will refer to an NGO. The term "government coordinating authority" refers to the government institution, which is the official UNDP counterpart. UNDP Nigeria wishes to engage the services of an Audit Firm to carry out a HACT financial Audit of its implementing parters as provided in the Terms of Reference (TOR). This Terms of Reference (TOR) is intended to provide guidance to UNDP country offices and to the government implementing partner (IP) (or NGO) in agreeing to the terms of reference for the audit of projects managed by governments (or NGOs). These audits are under the responsibility of the UNDP country office. This specimen TOR has been revised to highlight requirements in the audit services required (Part E and Annex 1) as well as areas to be covered in the audit report and management letter (Part F and Annex 3), as follows: UNDP Statement of Expenses - the Combined Delivery Report (CDR) - for the period 1 January to 31 December 2016 Statement of Cash Position reported by the project as at 31 December 2016 Statement of Assets and Equipment as at 31 December 2016 Follow-up to resolve Audit Observations 1. The United Nations Board of Auditors (UN BoA) has commented on the NGO/NIM audit results and the cases where they noted a lack of conclusive actions to properly address an audit qualification in the previous year audit and the related NFI. They also commented on the recurrence of the same significant audit issues in the same projects without being duly resolved. This is unacceptable and country offices must ensure adequate and direct action is taken to prevent the same deficiencies from recurring in the future. If further guidance is needed, country offices should contact OAI, Special Assignments Section or the respective OAI Regional Audit Centre. A Critical Audit Requirement 1. Following the International Standards on Auditing (ISA 450 and ISA 710), there is a requirement regarding a previous year modified audit opinion. This audit standard requires that auditors, when expressing an opinion on this year’s statements, take into account the possible effect of a prior year modified opinion that has not been properly corrected or resolved. 2. Consequently, a previous year modified opinion that has not been properly resolved may cause the auditors to issue a modified opinion in their current year audit report. If proper attention is not paid to this aspect, the risk could be a significant accumulation of unresolved modified opinions from previous years that would lead the UN BoA to issue a modified audit opinion on UNDP financial statements. (Refer to Annex 5) 3. Country offices (COs) must ensure the audit services are adequately covered as specified in the present TOR and CDRs are duly certified by the implementing partners and auditors and signed by UNDP CO management and attached to the audit reports; the same applies for the Statement of Cash Position (cash and bank balances of the project) and Statement of Assets and Equipment. If the project does not hold any assets or equipment or there is no cash at hand or bank account, the auditors must clearly indicate this in the opinion page and certify it. Details of this procurement notice is available at https://etendering.partneragencies.org | 
