The Finance and Audit Committee of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) met on June 10, 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda. Key discussions included: (1) An external audit report for 2015 found FARA's financial statements presented a true and fair view; (2) FARA's finances are dwindling, reducing cash by 58% and net assets by 40% in 2015; and (3) The committee recommended the Board address FARA's sustainability, approve various policies, and endorse reports on finances, human resources, and internal auditing to strengthen operations.

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Prepared for the
19th
FARA Board of Directors Meeting
Accra, Ghana
21-22 November 2016
BOARD
REPORT
FARA Board Report
Minutes of the Finance and Audit Committee
Meeting
10 June 2016

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Minutes of the FARA Board Finance and Audit Committee Meeting
Held on 10th June 2016 at the Grand Legacy Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda
1 Attendance
Members Present
1. Samuel Adam Ag. Chairperson
2. Yemi Akinbamijo
3. Philip Kiriro
4. Abdou Tenkouano
5. Maurice Lorka N'Guessan
6. Willem Janssen
Resource Persons
1. Johnson Ukpong (Finance Manager, FARA)
2. Ama Pokuah Tabiou-Malkaye (Human Resource and Admin. Manager, FARA)
3. Prince Bosompim (Internal Auditor, FARA)
4. Comfort Duah (KPMG, Ghana)
5. Fabian Chinweokwu (KPMG, Ghana)
2 The Agenda
1. Review and approval of minutes of the last Finance and Audit Committee meeting
and adoption of report on the implementation of Committee’s recommendations
2. Recommendations of Fiduciary Reviews Commissioned by the World Bank
3. FARA Finance Report for 2015 and the first quarter of 2016
4. FARA Draft Credit Card Policy
5. Cash Handling and Management Policy
6. FARA External Audit Report for 2015
7. FARA human resources and administration progress report for 2015 and the first
quarter of 2016
8. Internal Audit Report

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3 Adoption of the Agenda
The meeting commenced at 1440 hours with a quorum. The agenda as outlined above
was adopted with an amendment to bring up item 6 first to enable the External
Auditors to present their report.
4 External Audit Report for 2015
The Committee noted and welcomed the unqualified opinion of the external auditors
(KPMG, Ghana) on FARA’s financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2015
as a true and fair view of the financial position of FARA at that date. The external audit
report was accepted for the Board’s approval.
5 Review of Minutes and Implementation Status of the Committee’s Recommendations
Minutes of the last Committee meeting held on 16 November 2015 were adopted after
correcting the additional amount withheld by the World Bank as a provision for foreign
exchange fluctuations on the FARA MDTF grant from the USD 2.5 million reported
earlier to USD 2.2 million.
The Committee noted the progress on implementation of its recommendations from
the last meeting including recruitment of FARA’s external auditor for the next 3 years. It
was noted that the workshop to win back donors that have stopped supporting FARA,
which was planned for the second quarter of 2016 was yet to be organised.
6 Finance Report
The Finance Manager, Mr Johnson Ukpong, presented finance reports for 2015 and the
first quarter of 2016. He also presented the draft credit card policy and the draft cash
handling and management policy. He informed the Committee of the Secretariat’s
revised list of bank signatories, comprising the Executive Director, the Director of
Research and Innovation, the Director of Corporate Partnerships and Communications
and the Finance Manager.
The Committee noted the following:
• The budget performance for the financial year 2015 was 103% of the approved
budget. It was explained that the overrun was covered by funds carried forward
from the previous year (2014), to finance activities budgeted for in 2014 but
implemented in 2015.
• The fund burn rate during the first quarter of 2016 was low. The Secretariat
attributed the low burn rate to delays in obtaining the World Bank’s no-objection on
the procurement plan.

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• The balance on the MDTF grant was USD 4,230,118. This is the amount available for
programming in 2017 and 2018 assuming the MDTF funds budgeted for 2016 are
fully utilized and the provision for exchange rate fluctuations remains USD 2.2
million.
• The financial report shows that the financial resources are dwindling. This is a source
of concern for FARA’s sustainability. In 2015, FARA’s cash position reduced by about
58% and net assets by about 40%.
• The credit card policy and the cash handling and management policy were noted
The Committee made the following recommendations regarding finance:
- The Board to give serious attention to FARA’s going-concern issue and look for ways
to improve the resource base to keep FARA going.
- The Board to endorse the Finance report for the year ended 31st December 2015 and
the first quarter of 2016.
- The Board to approve the proposed Credit Card Policy subject to amendments
proposed by the Executive Director.
- The Board to approve the Cash handling and management Policy as presented.
- The Secretariat to respond to the in-depth financial management review and value
for money audit recommendations with specific implementation datelines to close
the matter.
7 Human Resources and Administration
The Committee noted the progress made in implementation of the workplan of the
Human Resources and Administration (HRA) function in 2015 and the first quarter of
2016.
Concerning HRA the Committee noted the following:
- the new additions to existing manuals to strengthen the Human Resources and
Administration operations at the Secretariat.
- the request by the World Bank for FARA to strengthen the Procurement Unit by
recruiting a Procurement Specialist or Officer as the current arrangement of an
external consultant is inadequate. The Secretariat pointed out that the volume of
procurement work did not warrant engaging a full time in-house procurement
specialist.

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The Committee made the following recommendations regarding HRA
- The Secretariat to make a presentation to the World Bank on the possible options
for strengthening the Procurement unit.
- The Board to endorse the HRA reports for 2015 and the first quarter of 2016
8 Internal Audit Report
The Committee welcomed the new Internal Auditor, Mr. Prince Bosompim, a Chartered
Accountant with MBA recruited from Ecobank Ghana with a lot of Audit and IT
experience.
The Committee also noted and endorsed the Internal audit workplan, the revised
internal audit charter and the standard operating procedures for the Board’s approval.
9 Summary of recommendations
1. The Board to give serious attention to FARA’s going-concern issue and look for ways
to improve the resource base to keep FARA going
2. That Board to approve the proposed credit card policy subject to amendments
proposed by the Executive Director.
3. The Board to approve the draft cash handling and management policy.
4. The Secretariat to respond to the in-depth financial management review and value-
for-money audit recommendations with specific implementation datelines to close
the matter.
5. The Board to endorse the finance and HRA reports for 2015 and the first quarter of
2016
6. The Secretariat to make a presentation to the World Bank on possible options for
strengthening the Procurement unit.
7. The Board to endorse the external audit report as well as the internal audit
workplan, the revised internal audit charter and the standard operating procedures
10 Adjournment
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 1820 hours.
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Committee Chair (Ag.) Recorder
Samuel Adam Johnson Ukpong