INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING STANDARDS GAP ANALYSIS ASSESSMENT AND COMPLIANCE REVIEW - INTRODUCTION

Sep 2, 2026

Introduction outlines the African Union’s institutional context and the African Union Commission’s role as AU secretariat, including funding sources from member assessed contributions and partner support. It explains the transition to International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) mandated in January 2013, AU’s accrual-based IPSAS implementation in 2014 with World Bank support, and the project’s capacity-development goal. It also states the assignment objective to achieve full IPSAS compliance by 2017 and frames the capacity-building focus on budget execution and governance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatDOC

Pages16

Reading Time6 min

AccessFree to download

INTRODUCTION

Background and rationale

Objective

Scope of work

TERMS OF REFERENCE SUPPORT FOR CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION AND OTHER AFRICAN UNION ORGANS PROJECT -AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION GRANT NO. H9390 INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING STANDARDS GAP ANALYSIS ASSESSMENT AND COMPLIANCE REVIEW INTRODUCTION The African Union (AU) was established as a unique Pan African continental body, charged with spearheading Africa’s rapid integration and sustainable development by promoting unity, solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African States as well as developing a New Partnership worldwide. Its Headquarters is located in Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia. The African Union Commission (AUC) is the secretariat of the AU and is the key organ playing a central role in the day-to-day management of the AU. The AU is funded from assessed contribution from the 54 Member states and funds from Institutional Partners for specific projects in line with its Strategic Plan and agreed priorities with the partners. 1.1 Background and rationale The transition to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) was mandated in January 2013 by the Executive Council and endorsed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. The objective of IPSAS was to harmonize financial reporting practices, to improve transparency, promote efficiency, and comparability of financial statements. In 2014, AU implemented accrual-based IPSAS supported by a grant from the World Bank in relation to the Capacity Development of the African Union Commission and other AU Organs (project P126848). The objective of the Project is to strengthen African Union Commission’s capacity to facilitate economic development results and transformation through enhanced institutional efficiency. This will be achieved by enhancing the AUC’s internal human resources and management systems, and supporting result-oriented external partnerships and collective actions designed to enhance the implementation of regional economic development initiatives in priority areas (e.g. regional trade, energy, infrastructure, governance, natural resource management) for the benefit of African Union member states, the Regional Economic Communities and African citizens. As part of the capaciyt buidling endavouer AUC has been working towards improving budget execution and enhancing corporate governance and management systems and procedures in financial management and other areas of financial matters. 2.0 OBJECTIVE The objective of the assignment is to enable AU to reach to the full compliance under the IPSAS framework by 2017. To achieve the stated objective AUC wishes to engage the services of a consulting firm/ to carry out a gap analysis of the current status of IPSAS implementation in AUC, Organs, Regional and Liaison Offices. 3.0 SCOPE OF WORK Under this assignment the Consultant is expected to cover the following tasks; Undertake gap analysis and produce the gap analysis document Develop an action plan in consultation with the concerted authority Prepare Year-end due diligences document under IPSAS framework Develop Standard format of the consolidated financial statement and associated minimum disclosures Under this assignment the consultant should cover the African Union Commission, Organs (4), and Regional and Liaison Offices (32) as indicated below: 3.1 Permanent Representation Permanent Delegation to the League of Arab States, Cairo, Egypt African Union Southern Africa Region Office (SARO), Lilongwe, Malawi Permanent Mission to the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, Brussels, Belgium AU Permanent Representative to the United Nations and World Trade Organization, Geneva, Switzerland AU Permanent Observer to the United Nations, New York, United States of America AU Permanent Representative to the United States, Washington DC, United States of America 3.2 Specialized & Regional Offices Scientific, Technical and Research Commission

FAQs

What was the rationale for adopting IPSAS in the African Union?

The transition to IPSAS was mandated to harmonize financial reporting, improve transparency, promote efficiency, and increase the comparability of financial statements.

What does the project supported by the World Bank aim to achieve?

It aims to strengthen the African Union Commission’s capacity to facilitate economic development results and transformation through enhanced institutional efficiency and improved internal human resources and management systems.

What is the assignment’s main objective regarding IPSAS compliance?

The assignment seeks to enable the AU to reach full compliance under the IPSAS framework by 2017.

Sep 2, 2026

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