Dubai Humanitarian (IHC) Audit Preparation Checklist

An audit-ready humanitarian organisation can connect funding, expenditure and remaining resources to reliable records. This checklist is for finance and programme teams in Dubai Humanitarian, formerly International Humanitarian City (IHC), and for commercial suppliers supporting relief operations. Adapt it to the actual entity and reporting terms rather than treating every organisation as the same.

1. Define the report and its users

Start with the current licence, legal form, financial year, authority correspondence and governing documents. Establish whether the work concerns local financial statements, branch operations, a donor project, headquarters reporting or several separate deliverables.

Confirm the proposed auditor’s current authority eligibility and independence before appointment. Collect the reporting instructions and record who is responsible for preparation, approvals and submission. A donor expenditure report does not automatically replace a financial statement audit.

Review Dubai Humanitarian and IHC audit requirements

2. Reconcile funding by project and donor

Keep a register of funding agreements, restrictions, budgets, reporting dates, currencies and any return conditions. Reconcile cash receipts to the bank and the relevant project ledger. Explain transfers between projects, shared costs and unspent balances.

• Retain signed agreements and subsequent amendments, not only award emails.
• Document the accounting framework and the reasoning for recognising income, liabilities and restricted balances.
• Match donor reports to the ledger and explain differences in periods, currency or eligible expenditure.

Do not assume that receiving cash settles the accounting treatment. Conditions attached to funding and the applicable framework need to be assessed. Keep the evidence supporting management’s judgment with the reconciliation.

3. Build a reliable partner-advance file

List amounts transferred to implementing partners, the purpose, reporting date and outstanding balance. Retain partner agreements, approvals, expenditure reports and evidence of review. Identify overdue reports, unsupported costs and funds that may need to be recovered.

Distinguish an advance from accepted expenditure. A payment instruction or a partner spreadsheet may not, on its own, establish that costs were incurred for the intended project. Record follow-up, corrections and the basis for closing each advance.

4. Plan relief-inventory evidence before counting

Identify every stock location and the owner of each material category. Warehouse possession alone does not establish ownership. Separate agency-owned goods, third-party supplies, consignment items and stock held on behalf of donors or partners.

• Agree count arrangements with the auditor before year-end where stock is material.
• Retain donation receipts, purchase records, goods-received notes and dispatch documentation.
• Track expiry, damage, temperature-sensitive items, slow movements and write-offs.
• Reconcile opening quantities, receipts, transfers, dispatches and closing stock to the ledger.

Support the valuation and recognition of donated goods under the chosen framework. Explain the source of values and any estimation uncertainty. Keep a clear trail between physical quantities, valuation workings and disclosures.

5. Connect procurement and delivery

Compile supplier selection, approvals, purchase orders, invoices, receipt evidence and settlement records. Document urgent-purchase exceptions and any conflict-of-interest declarations. Investigate duplicate invoices, changed bank details and unusual payment instructions through the organisation’s control procedures.

Commercial relief suppliers should also reconcile contracts, freight and handling income, customer advances, subcontractors, credit notes and goods in transit. Document whether receipts belong to the company or are collected for another party.

6. Close the local ledger and headquarters balances

Reconcile banks, payables, receivables, payroll, assets, leases and accruals to a controlled trial balance. List all later adjustments with their approval and posting references. Resolve suspense balances rather than carrying unexplained differences into the audit pack.

For branches and international organisations, reconcile head-office funding, shared staff costs and inter-office balances. Agree the local coverage required and obtain the relevant headquarters reports. Do not assume a global audit automatically fulfils every local instruction.

7. Distinguish financial audit from other assurance

A donor may specify its own reporting currency, eligible-cost rules, procurement criteria and reporting period. Agree whether the required work is a financial audit, a separate assurance engagement or agreed-upon procedures. The engagement terms determine the work and the form of report.

Financial audit is not a blanket certification of programme outcomes, legal compliance or every control. If procurement, partner management, cyber access or warehouse controls need a detailed review, define a separate internal-audit scope and consider independence.

Explore internal audit and control reviews

8. Finalise governance, tax and filing responsibilities

The authority’s activity report, financial statements and donor reports may use different information and timetables. Maintain a reporting calendar with named owners. Confirm the current templates and member instructions, and keep the final signed documents and submission receipts.

Assess tax status separately for the actual legal entity and activities. A humanitarian purpose or free-zone address is not sufficient evidence of an exemption. Commercial suppliers and organisations with different legal status may have different obligations.

Protect donor, employee and beneficiary information through appropriate access controls and secure exchange arrangements. Retain the evidence needed for the engagement without circulating unnecessary personal details in general reporting packs.

To discuss preparation with SAIF Chartered Accountants, provide the licence, year-end, trial balance, previous report and authority or donor reporting terms. Explain projects, warehouses, partner arrangements and headquarters requirements so the proposal covers the actual work.

Discuss your IHC reporting brief