CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF GIKONGORO

P.O BOX 77 GIKONGORO RWANDA / AFRIQUE Phone. (250) 785650568

E-mail : caritasgik@vahoo.fr

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL AUDIT OF TWO SERVICES OF CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF GIKONGORO: CARITAS GIKONGORO, AND JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMISSION.

1. Background of Caritas and Justice and Peace Commission of Gikongoro Diocese

Caritas Gikongoro and Justice and Peace Commission are Services of the Gikongoro Catholic Diocese. Caritas Gikongoro is a service of Diocese Catholique de Gikongoro created in 1993 with the mission to assist the needy by increasing income, improvement of health, promotion of socio-charitable works as well as the promotion of a culture of peace. The Vision of Caritas Gikongoro is to have a society where human dignity and the integral development of all people are promoted according to the evangelical values.

To achieve this, Caritas Gikongoro operates through three main departments such as “Social department, Health department and Development department.

The mission of Justice and Peace Commission of Gikongoro Diocese is to work for the construction of a lasting peace, through the establishment of a rule of law resulting from education for justice, peace and reconciliation, defense of human rights especially among the poor, denunciation of injustices, and large-scale dissemination of the social teaching of the Catholic Church.

Gikongoro Diocese covers the districts of Nyamagabe, a big part of Nyaruguru district plus a portion of Nyanza and Huye districts in southern province and Karongi in Western province. Caritas Gikongoro and Justice and Peace Commission collaborate with other stakeholders includingGovernments,InternationalNGO andCSO,Religiousorganisationand Congregations pursuing a similar goal.

For enhancing its accountability and financial transparency, Caritas Gikongoro and Justice and Peace Commission organize an external audit to ensure that its financial statement are accurate, reliable and compliant with established international and national standards. It is in this context that the Catholic Diocese of Gikongoro would like to invite independent qualified auditing firm, to perform the institutional audit for the period of the September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025, in these two Services of Caritas Gikongoro and Diocesan Commission Justice and Peace.

2. Context and justification of the audit

2.1. Overall objective

The objective of this organizational audit is to confirm the veracity and accuracy of the financial statements related to the use and compliance of the management of funds for the period of September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025.

2.2. Specific objectives

The specific objectives of this assignment are the following:

• To check the financial statements;
• Reconcile the cash flow to confirm the balances of the period in study carried over;
• Ensure compliance with the organization's procurement policies and procedures;
• Review the organizational system in all its structures: Board of Directors,
• Human Resources, Finance, and Administration;
• Review any other area / activity or service deemed relevant;
• To check compliance with administrative and financial procedures;
• Verify compliance with technical standards in financial and accounting management and the applicability of the related guide tools;
• To check the regularity of the accounting operations carried out during the period as part of the management of funds from the various donors and the own funds of Caritas Gikongoro and the Justice and Peace Commission;
• Express an independent professional opinion on the financial statements since September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025.
• Procurement: Check whether all the procurement procedures are respected such as: terms of reference to justify the activity / tender documents; publication of the ToRs; Submission of bids / Proforma; bid evaluation; award of contract; Monitoring the execution of contracts, regular monitoring of project implementation, production of financial, and narrative reports; verification of expenditures and evaluation of expenditures against project achievements.
• Organization: Check the implementation of the organizational Policies and Procedures Manual, such as the work of the members of the Board of Directors and holding of the meetings of staff, General Assembly and the Board of Directors, etc;
• Controls: Check the process of planning, commitment and reference term setting for the audit: monitoring and decision-making vis-a-vis the audit recommendations;

• Project activities: Check whether there has been any return of unused funds for completed projects; follow up on consulting contracts and their activities, and see the quality of the documents produced in this regard.

3. Expected results

• At the end of the assignment, Caritas Gikongoro and Commission for Justice and Peace will have audited and certified financial statements for 12 months;

• At the end of the audit, Caritas Gikongoro and Justice and Peace Commission are aware of the shortcomings that have characterized their functioning during this period and remedial measures are discussed with the Diocese staff involved in these services (Caritas and Justice and Peace Commission).

4. Methodology and Approaches

The audit firm will perform its tasks independently. Interviews will be held with the Caritas Gikongoro Administration and Finance Team which is the same for Justice and Peace Commission. The external auditor will be facilitated to access all the documentation needed during the assignment. The external auditor will, in a permanent and progressive way, inform the Director of Caritas at the same time the Director of the Justice and Peace Commission on the progress of the assignment, and will have to meet the relevant teams to discuss the draft report before submitting the final report.

The assignment will be executed by an audit firm under the supervision of the Gikongoro Catholic Diocese using its two services (Caritas Diocesan and Diocesan Commission Justice and Peace).

5. Presentation of reports

• The audit firm will present the report to the BOD of both Justice and Peace Commission and Caritas Gikongoro;
• The final version of the audit reports will be submitted within 30 calendar days from the beginning of the assignment;
• The audit Firm will submit six hard copies of printed reports: three for Caritas Gikongoro, three Justice and Peace Commission.

In addition to the management letter, the financial statements will include:

• Inventory list of equipment and fixed assets,
• Budget implementation status by donor;
• Reconciliation of cash position;
• Statement of revenue and expenditure;
• Annual report.
• Liquidity reconciliation;

6. Expertise required

This audit assignment is expected to be performed exclusively by an audit firm fulfilling

the following conditions:

• To be on the List of ICPAR firms - 2025
• To be a professionally renowned (international or national) office in the field of audits;
• To have proven a minimum experience of five years in the audit of projects and Civil Society Organizations;
• To have a certificates of completion for a similar work from different organizations,
• To have professional, experienced and qualified staff in the field of auditing;
• To have a perfect command of the operation of accounting software supported by proof of documents;
• To Provide the EBM invoice for payment.

7. Working language

The audit report will be written in English while the interviews can be done in French,English and Kinyarwanda,

8. Schedule of the assignment

The present assignment is expected to be executed in a period not exceeding 20 calendar days from the date of signature of the contract.

9. Application requirements

• Application letter addressed to the Director of Caritas and CDJP Gikongoro;
• Detailed financial proposal on the assignment including the taxes;

• Be licensed by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to conduct business in Rwanda;

• Recent certificate of practice from ICPAR Firm,
• Have a documented and verifiable track record (VAT) and invoicing with EBM receipt;
• Have a documented valid tax Clearance certificate from RRA and RSSB;
• Have the expertise to provide quality similar services proven by at least three good completion certificates of the similar works to different clients.

The application should be done online to the email of Caritas Gikongoro: caritaseik@vahoo.fr.Late application will not be considered. Partial or incomplete application will not be considered. The Catholic Diocese of Gikongoro reserves the right to reject any or all proposals considered not to be in its best interests.

Successful bidders will be expected to comply with various organizational policies of the Catholic Diocese of Gikongoro, including the Safeguarding for all Programme Participants policy, Gender policy, Child Protection Policy, data protection policies, etc.a

For any clarification in regard to this assignment, your request is welcome to the telephone and address email mentioned above.

Done at Gikongoro, on March 05, 2026

Father Jean NDAGIJIMA

Director of Caritas andCDJP Gikongoro