The Public Association Research Center for Religious Studies (RCRS) is an independent research center established in 2011 on the basis of the UNESCO Chair of World Culture and Religions of the Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University. From April 1, 2022 to September 30, 2024 RCRS is implementing the project “Empowering Agents of Change for FORB in the Kyrgyz Republic”.

The goal of the project is to create favorable conditions for the use of right to freedom of religion and belief in the Kyrgyz Republic. The Project is funded by Stefanus Alliance International.

The purpose of the audit of the financial statements of the project “Empowering Agents of Change for FORB in the Kyrgyz Republic” is to provide an opportunity for the auditor to express a professional opinion on the financial position of the project for the period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.

Responsibility for the preparation of financial statements.

The responsibility for the preparation of financial statements, including the proper disclosure of relevant information, rests with the management of the organization. This responsibility is to maintain an adequate accounting system of internal control, the selection and application of accounting policies, to ensure the safety of project assets and adequate disclosure of information. In the process of conducting an audit, the auditor may request written confirmation from management of the data for the audit.

Audit scope.

The auditor shall be part of one of the big international audit firms, (PWC, EY, KPMG, Deloitte, BDO) and follow ISA standard 800/805.

The audit will be carried out in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (ISA) published by the International Standards Board on Auditing and Quality Assurance of the International Federation of Accountants. These Standards require the auditor to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about the absence of material misstatement in the financial statements being audited. An audit involves examining, on a selective basis, evidence supporting certain amounts and explanatory notes to the financial statements. An audit also consists of evaluating the accounting principles applied and the significant estimates made by management, along with evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. In accordance with ISAs, the auditor is expected to pay particular attention to the following matters:

In accordance with ISAs, the auditor is expected to pay particular attention to the following matters:

In planning and performing the audit, in order to reduce audit risk to an acceptably low level, the auditor should consider the risk of material misstatement in the financial statements due to fraud (fraud) in accordance with the requirements of International Auditing Standard 240: The Auditor’s Responsibilities Relating to Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements;

In designing and performing audit procedures, and in evaluating and reporting results, the auditor should recognize that an entity’s non-compliance with laws and regulations could materially affect the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of International Auditing Standard 250: Consideration of Laws and Regulations in an Audit of Financial Statements;

The auditor is required to communicate management problems arising from an audit of financial statements to those charged with governance of the entity in accordance with the requirements of International Auditing Standard 260: Communication with those Charged with Governance;

The auditor should communicate to those charged with governance, as appropriate, deficiencies in internal control that the auditor identifies in the course of an audit of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of International Auditing Standard 265: Communicating Deficiencies in Internal Control to Those Charged with Governance and Mahagement;

In order to reduce audit risk to an acceptably low level, the auditor should determine the overall response to assessed risks at the financial statement level, and should design and implement further audit procedures to respond to assessed risks at the assertion level in accordance with the requirements of ISA 330: Auditor’s Responses to Assessed Risks;

In cases where certain aspects of the project activities are carried out by a third party service provider, the auditor will include understanding and evaluating the service provider’s internal control system during the audit in accordance with the requirements of International Standard on Auditing 402: Audit Considerations Relating to an Entity Using a Service Organization;

In confirmatory compliance with the financial arrangements of the project, and the auditor should conduct tests to confirm the following :

All external funds provided must be used in accordance with the terms of the Agreement between Stefanus Alliance International and the Public Association “Research Center for Religious Studies” with due regard to economy and efficiency, and only for the purposes for which the funding was provided.

The financed services were purchased in accordance with the Agreement between Stefanus Alliance International and the Public Association “Research Center for Religious Studies”

All necessary supporting documents, records and records are kept regarding all project transactions, including expenditures made under the procedures of the donor and full documentation from the project account. The auditor is expected to verify that the reports of a period correspond to the accounting records of the relevant period.

Audit report.

The auditors will present an audit opinion on the financial statements of the project. The auditor’s opinion should be based on an assessment of the conclusions drawn from the audit evidence and should be clearly expressed in the form of a written report that also describes the basis for that opinion. The auditor’s report must be prepared in accordance with ISA 700 «Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements».

In addition to the audit report, the auditor will prepare a Project Management Letter in which the auditor:

• sets out his comments and observations regarding the accounting documentation, systems and controls studied in the framework of the audit;
• identifies specific characteristics and weaknesses in systems and controls, as well as gives recommendations for their elimination;
• reports cases of non-compliance with the terms of the above Agreement;
• submit expenses that are considered ineligible;
• will reflect the problems that were identified during the audit and which may have a significant impact on the implementation of the project;
• bring to the attention of management matters that the auditor considers important;
• include comments to management in the Letter to Management.

The Auditor`s Opinion on the Financial Statements and the Management Letter must be received by RCRS by March 25, 2024.

Interested applicants should submit commercial offers to religious.studieskg@gmail.com with External audit services subject line before November 24, 2023, 17:59 Bishkek time.