Accountant/Auditor NPSA 10 (Erbil, Iraq)

The UNDP Iraq Country Office, with generous funding from INL, is implementing the project ‘Strengthening the Rule of Law and Human Rights to Sustain Peace and Foster Development in Iraq’. The overall purpose of the project is to support investigating judges and prosecutors, police investigators of the Ministry of the Interior (MoI), commission of integrity (CoI) investigators, auditors of the Federal board of supreme audit (FBoA) and the board in the Kurdish Region (KBoSA), and financial analysts of the Anti-Money Laundering & Countering Financing of Terrorism Office (AML-CFT, i.e. Iraq’s Financial Intelligence Unit) to effectively investigate and adjudicate complex financial crimes. Under Output 3 of the project, law enforcement investigators, auditors and financial analysts shall acquire improved capacities to carry out complex financial and organised crime investigations, and improved capacity to advise investigating judges on appropriate investigative measures. For this purpose, the UNDP SSR/RoL Programme holds Workshops on Investigative Taskforces (comprising of representative of all the above-mentioned institutions); training already commenced), Judicial workshops (for judges), Mentoring Workshops, and Auditing workshops (intended to be held under the auspices of the selected Mentor on Forensic Auditing). Moreover, senior judges, investigators, auditors, and financial analysts convene monthly to draft a Handbook on Financial Investigations.

Manipulation of goods and services, offering bribes to persons responsible for managing public contracts with the intention to obtain more favourable consideration, tax evasion, abuses of public procurement, concealing of illicit gains and the financing of terrorism are practices in Iraq requiring the ability to follow the flow of funds and identify desired evidence. As economic transactions can be complex, the legal knowledge and skills of investigative judges alone do not suffice for conducting efficient criminal investigations, in particular when accounting issues are present. Forensic accounting and auditing is a required multidisciplinary area that combines knowledge of finances, accounting, auditing, banking and exchange operations, information systems, at least a degree of knowledge of the legal framework, the criminal procedure code, the procedures of government institutions, investigation techniques and other financial skills. All this combined is vital to clarify facts and economic transactions for the purpose of criminal proceedings. 

The National Accountant/Auditor shall act as advisor and assistant to a senior international Mentor on Forensic Auditing. The Mentor on Forensic Auditing will be commissioned to provide targeted assistance to the FBoSA and the BoSA of the KRI to improve their capacities on forensic auditing. The FBoSA and the KBoSA are key partners of the project along with investigative judges under the Supreme Judicial Council, the Commission of Integrity, the AML-CFT Office and the MoI. The FBoSA is one of Iraq's leading institutions that is entrusted with the mission of protecting public funds, detecting acts of fraud and manipulation, combating administrative and financial corruption, and effectively contributing to the enhancement of the national economy for building a new Iraq with a governance that is based on economic and financial foundations along with well-established, sound, legal and scientific standards. Despite being established in 1927, thereby being one of the oldest Iraqi institutions, and serving as the highest financial auditing body, its expertise is insufficiently used to initiate and support financial crimes investigations. A Baseline Assessment prepared under the project in 2021 details around ten ways to support the FBoSA. Therefore, the targeted support under this output to FBoSA and BoSA of the KRI may include a combination of topics enumerated below. However, they shall be determined together with the selected forensic auditor and following discussions and agreement with the FBoSA, and key findings and recommendations of the currently prepared KRI Baseline Assessment (with regard to BoSA of the KRI):

• Conduct of forensic auditing in cases of alleged or suspected violations of criminal law, including theft, fraud, embezzlement, conflict of interest, collusion, kickbacks, records falsification and money laundering.
• Manipulation of financial statements and its impact on the institutional financial position.
• Methods and means of establishing the facts constituting a financial crime. Auditing leading to the discovery of financial crimes (source of information - legal description – positive evidence - gaps and risks - results and procedures).
• Recognition of Indicators of suspicion/red flags, initiating a complaint leading to further financial investigations lead by investigative judges.
• Development, jointly with national auditors, of a vision of forensic auditing to prevent, detect, and investigate issues of fraud and financial abuse committed by audited companies and government departments.
• Identification of forensic issues and root causes, recommendations for improved controls processes.
• Gathering, review, and analysis of data in support of an audit.
• Preparation of clear, comprehensive and cohesive audit reports and memoranda in a timely manner.
• Preparation of work papers to adequately document audits performed with supporting evidence for all forensic findings.
• Preparation of testimony of auditors in hearings and criminal trials when necessary.
• Written reporting and explaining audit findings to judges and investigators.
• Preventive auditing; promotion of a zero-tolerance control environment where fraud or noncompliance is unacceptable and difficult to conceal.

The proposed training shall assist FBoSA and BoSA of the KRI to develop their internal capacities in the field of forensic auditing and provide assistance to investigative judges and other agencies when investigating complex organised and financial crimes. Joint training will be held for participants from FBoSA and BoSA from the KRI, and possibly other institutions such as the tax authorities. It will facilitate a rare forum for peer-to-peer mutual understanding and appreciation of common practices and international standards on forensic accounting and auditing

• Provide support for the deliverance of six joint ‘Auditing Workshops’ for a total of 150 participants from FBoSA (120) and BoSA of the KRI (30). Each workshop will include 25 participants and will cover up to five days.
• Assist the Mentor on Forensic Auditing in encouraging and advising the two institutions to incorporate prepared training material used in the Auditing Workshops in a replicable way into the curricula of the internal training institutes of FBoSA and BoSA in KRI to sustain the practice of auditing workshops for longer-term recurring professional training.
• Assist the Mentor on Forensic Auditing in mentoring previous workshop participants to address challenges faced to implement effective forensic auditing approaches.
• Assist the Mentor on Forensic Auditing in providing advice to representatives of FBoSA and BoSA of the KRI to enhance forensic auditing capacities, and strengthen collaboration with investigative judges and other investigative agencies on prioritised major crime cases.
• Any other task relating to capacity building of Iraqi practitioners on forensic accounting or auditing by the UNDP Criminal Justice Specialist and SSR/RoL Programme Manager

Institutional Arrangement

Under the overall guidance of the Security Sector Reform/Rule of Law Programme Manager and direct supervision of the Senior Tech. Specialist – Criminal Justice, the National Accountant/Auditor will act as advisor and assistant to the international Mentor on Forensic Auditing to support him/her to achieve the aforementioned deliverables.

The work will be Erbil-based with frequent travel to Baghdad.  The National Accountant/Auditor will be required to engage closely with the UNDP Criminal Justice Specialist who acts as project manager, a team of three UNDP financial investigation specialists, and the rest of the UNDP SSR/RoL team.