About the Organization
Amal Healing and Advocacy Center (AHAC) is a Syrian women-led and refugee-led civil society organization established in 2014 and officially registered in Türkiye in 2017 and Syria in 2025.
AHAC works to support women, survivors of violence, refugees, and conflict-affected communities through integrated programming in legal assistance, psychosocial support, case management, protection, advocacy, and transitional justice.
As part of its commitment to financial transparency, institutional accountability, and compliance with donor requirements, AHAC seeks to engage a qualified and independent external audit firm to conduct two separate financial audits covering its organizational operations and a donor-funded project.
Objective of the Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is to obtain an independent professional assessment of AHAC’s financial management, financial statements, internal control systems, and compliance with applicable regulations and donor requirements.
The selected audit firm will be responsible for conducting two separate audits under one service contract, with an independent audit report issued for each assignment.
Scope of Work
1. Organizational Financial Audit – Fiscal Year 2025
Audit Period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
Geographical Coverage: Türkiye and Syria
The organizational audit will cover AHAC’s overall financial operations, including organizational income, expenditures, projects, and financial transactions implemented in both Türkiye and Syria during the 2025 fiscal year.
The audit shall include:
- Examination of annual financial statements, accounting records, and supporting financial documentation.
- Verification of organizational income, expenditures, bank accounts, cash balances, and financial reconciliations.
- Review of financial management systems and internal control procedures.
- Assessment of compliance with applicable financial reporting standards and relevant national regulations.
- Examination of payroll, salary expenses, tax obligations, and social security compliance, where applicable.
- Review of procurement procedures, contracts, and financial authorization processes.
- Verification of compliance with AHAC’s financial policies and procedures.
- Identification of financial irregularities, unsupported expenditures, and internal control weaknesses.
- Recommendations to strengthen financial accountability and institutional financial management.
The audit must adequately cover the organization’s financial operations in both Türkiye and Syria, including relevant cross-border financial transactions and supporting documentation.
2. UNVFVT Project Financial Audit – Project 1687-E
Donor: United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT), administered by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Project Implementation Location: Syria only
Audit Period: 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026
The second audit will specifically cover Project 1687-E, implemented by AHAC in Syria with funding from UNVFVT.
The audit shall be conducted in accordance with the project’s Grant Agreement, approved/revised budget, and applicable donor financial guidelines.
The audit shall include:
- Verification of 100% of the project’s financial transactions, without sampling.
- Examination of all project financial records, expenditures, and supporting documentation.
- Verification of compliance with the approved/revised project budget and donor requirements.
- Review of invoices, receipts, procurement records, contracts, payroll documentation, and evidence of payments.
- Reconciliation of project financial records with bank statements and donor financial reports.
- Assessment of procurement procedures, financial authorization, and internal controls.
- Identification of unsupported, ineligible, unauthorized, or irregular expenditures.
- Assessment of compliance with applicable UNVFVT financial reporting requirements.
- Preparation of a separate independent project audit report suitable for submission to OHCHR.
The project audit report must explicitly confirm that all project financial transactions were subjected to verification.
Expected Deliverables
The selected audit firm shall provide:
For the Organizational Audit:
- An independent external audit report for the 2025 fiscal year.
- Audited organizational financial statements covering operations in Türkiye and Syria.
- A Management Letter highlighting audit findings, internal control weaknesses, and recommendations for improvement.
For the UNVFVT Project Audit:
- A separate independent audit report covering the entire project implementation period.
- Audited project financial statements and expenditure reconciliation.
- Confirmation of the verification of all project transactions.
- A detailed assessment of compliance with donor financial requirements.
- Findings and recommendations addressing any identified financial irregularities or weaknesses.
Both audit reports must be prepared in English, signed by the responsible auditor, and submitted separately.
Required Qualifications
Interested audit firms must demonstrate:
- Valid legal registration and professional authorization to provide external audit services.
- Proven experience conducting financial audits for NGOs, nonprofit organizations, and donor-funded projects.
- Strong knowledge of International Standards on Auditing (ISA) and relevant financial reporting requirements.
- Experience auditing internationally funded grants and projects.
- Capacity to review financial operations and documentation relating to both Türkiye and Syria.
- Experience assessing financial controls, procurement compliance, and organizational financial management.
- Independence from AHAC and absence of any conflict of interest.
- Ability to issue legally valid invoices and receive payments through an official company bank account.
- Ability to prepare professional audit reports in English.
Previous experience conducting audits for United Nations-funded projects will be considered an advantage.
Duration and Timeline
The assignment will commence following the selection and contracting of the audit firm.
Applicants are expected to propose a realistic implementation timeline for completing both audits, including financial document review, transaction verification, preparation of draft reports, and submission of final signed reports.
Application Requirements
Interested and qualified audit firms are invited to submit the following documents:
- Technical Proposal: Including the proposed audit methodology, understanding of the assignment, workplan, and estimated completion timeline.
- Company Profile: Including valid registration documents, professional licenses, and relevant experience.
- Audit Team Qualifications: CVs or professional profiles of the proposed audit team, including the responsible signing auditor.
- Financial Proposal: A detailed quotation clearly indicating:
- Cost of the organizational financial audit for 2025 (Türkiye and Syria).
- Cost of the UNVFVT project audit (Syria only).
- Total proposed cost for both audits, including applicable taxes and additional expenses.
- Relevant References: Details of similar audits previously conducted for NGOs or internationally funded projects.
The financial proposal must include all costs necessary to complete both audit assignments, including the full verification of project transactions.
TOR:
How to apply
Submission Procedure
Interested audit firms should send their complete technical and financial proposals by email to:
Email Subject: External Audit Services – AHAC 2025 & UNVFVT Project 1687-E
Application Deadline: 30/10/2025
AHAC will evaluate proposals based on the firm’s qualifications, relevant experience, proposed methodology, implementation timeline, and financial offer.
Only shortlisted applicants may be contacted for further clarification or contractual discussions.
AHAC reserves the right to accept or reject proposals in accordance with its procurement policies.
Important: Applicants must submit one combined application covering both audits, with separate financial quotations for each assignment. The selected firm will be required to issue two independent audit reports.