CAO-06-26-Financial Auditor – Independent Verification of Water Utility Performance

CAO-06-26-Financial Auditor – Independent Verification of Water Utility Performance

We are seeking a Financial Auditor to join a consulting firm’s proposal for an international technical assistance assignment in the urban and peri-urban water supply sector in Lusophone Africa.

The assignment will consist of providing independent performance verification services for operators and technical assistance teams supporting public water utilities. The objective will be to verify baselines, contractual performance indicators, financial and accounting data quality, cost recovery, revenues, expenditures, budgets, financial statements and financial sustainability of utilities, and to issue independent reports that may serve as the basis for assessing contractual compliance and results-based payments.

Position

Financial Auditor – Independent Verification Agent

Main responsibilities

The Financial Auditor will be responsible for the review, validation and verification of financial, budgetary and accounting indicators of water utilities. Responsibilities will include:

• Verifying indicators related to revenues, operating expenditures, cost recovery, budgets, budget execution, financial statements, audited accounts, subsidies, debt, payments, unit costs and financial sustainability.
• Participating in the definition and implementation of the performance verification protocol.
• Contributing to the establishment of financial baselines and the validation of economic and financial performance targets.
• Reviewing financial statements, budgets, execution reports, accounting records, revenue reports, expenditure reports, information on subsidies, debt, payments to suppliers and other available financial documentation.
• Assessing the reliability, sufficiency and traceability of financial data used to measure compliance with indicators.
• Analysing consistency between financial data, commercial information, billing/collection levels, operating costs and technical results.
• Identifying discrepancies, inconsistencies or limitations in the financial information reported by operators, utilities or technical assistance teams.
• Contributing to quarterly reports, annual reports, baseline reports and ad hoc reports.
• Assessing the relationship between financial performance, cost recovery, operational efficiency, commercial revenues, subsidies and service sustainability.
• Coordinating with the Project Manager and with the technical and commercial experts to ensure an integrated verification of performance.

Mandatory minimum requirements

Only candidates who clearly demonstrate compliance with all the following requirements will be considered:

• University degree in auditing, accounting, finance, economics, business administration or a related discipline.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in similar assignments, related to financial auditing, accounting, financial analysis, assessment of utilities, review of financial statements or technical assistance to public service operators.
• Proven experience in auditing, accounting or financial analysis applied to utilities, public companies, basic service operators or entities with tariff-based revenues.
• Specific experience in reviewing or verifying financial indicators, including at least several of the following areas: cost recovery, operating revenues, operating expenditures, budget execution, subsidies, debt, accounts receivable, accounts payable, cash flow, financial statements, unit costs or financial sustainability.
• Experience reviewing and validating financial data from entities with incomplete information, weak accounting systems, limited documentary traceability or financial statements with a low level of maturity.
• Ability to analyse the relationship between financial information, commercial performance and operational performance of water utilities.
• Experience in projects in developing countries, preferably in Sub-Saharan Africa or comparable institutional contexts.
• Ability to prepare clear, traceable and defensible financial inputs for institutional reports.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary teams with engineering, commercial management and contractual management components.
• Professional Portuguese, spoken and written, is mandatory.
• Professional English, spoken and written, is mandatory.

Experience considered an asset

The following experience will be considered a strong asset:

• Projects financed by multilateral organisations or international financing institutions.
• Auditing or financial analysis of water companies, public utilities or urban service providers.
• Management, operation and maintenance contracts for water services.
• Performance-based contracts or contracts with payments linked to financial, commercial or operational indicators.
• Independent verification of financial information used to calculate performance-based payments.
• Definition of financial baselines, KPIs, validation methodologies and adjustment mechanisms.
• Assessment of cost recovery, financial sustainability, expenditure efficiency, tariff structure, subsidies or revenue improvement.
• Work in entities with weak financial systems, incomplete records, poor integration between commercial and accounting systems or dependence on public subsidies.
• Review of audited accounts, budgets, financial statements, cash reports, debt, accounts receivable and accounts payable.
• Participation in institutional strengthening programmes or technical assistance assignments for public water utilities.

Profile sought

We are looking for a senior financial profile with real experience in auditing or financial analysis of utilities, public companies or regulated urban services. This is not an ordinary administrative accounting role: the selected expert must be able to verify financial data, challenge its consistency, cross-check it against commercial and operational information, and issue independent judgements on the quality and reliability of reported information.

Generic applications will be disregarded if they do not demonstrate specific experience in financial auditing, financial analysis of utilities, indicator verification, performance assessment or technical assistance to public service operators.

Location and working arrangements

The assignment will combine home-office activities with periodic field missions in a Lusophone African country. The expected duration of the contract is multi-year.

Application documents

Interested candidates must submit:

• CV in World Bank format, in English.
• Brief indication of availability.
• List of similar projects, indicating country, client, dates, role performed and specific relevance to water utilities, financial auditing, financial analysis, performance verification or operation/service improvement contracts.

CVs that are not submitted in World Bank format or that do not clearly allow verification of the mandatory minimum requirements will not be considered.