Audit of humanitarian aid in Ukraine
Humanitarian aid follows its own rules: it arrives in kind, clears customs, is recognised at an assessed value and is then distributed to people, each of whom has to appear in a register. The donor checks that whole chain and the state looks at whether the aid was used as intended. We test the same chain and issue a report both sides accept.
A humanitarian aid audit confirms the full chain: receipt and customs clearance, recognition at an assessed value, storage, distribution to beneficiaries and reporting. It differs from a standard grant audit because most transactions are non-cash and the evidence consists of acts, delivery notes and beneficiary registers.
What is tested at each stage
Receipt and status
The decision recognising the consignment as humanitarian aid, the sender’s documents, declarations, shipping papers and the recipient’s confirmation. We also check that the organisation is entitled to receive such consignments.
Recognition and valuation
How the aid was taken into the books, at what value and on what basis. For goods in kind this is the most sensitive point: the valuation must rest on a document rather than an approximation.
Storage
The warehouse, the persons materially responsible, stock counts and the write-off of damaged or expired goods. We check that physical stock agrees with the ledger.
Distribution to beneficiaries
Distribution registers, signatures or other proof of receipt, the beneficiary selection criteria and whether they were followed. This is the donor’s main concern: evidence that the aid reached the people it was meant for.
Personal data
Registers contain personal data, so we also look at how they are stored and who has access. Donors increasingly include this in the terms of reference.
Reporting
The donor report, statutory humanitarian aid reporting and the treatment in the organisation’s financial statements. All three have to agree with one another.
What we find most often
Goods recognised at an amount taken from thin air or from someone else’s price list. The valuation should rest on the sender’s documents or on a supported estimate citing its source.
The beneficiary list exists but signatures or other evidence of handover do not. The donor then questions the whole distribution.
No stock count was performed or its results were never booked, and the difference surfaces during the audit.
No written rules on who receives what. Any distribution then looks arbitrary, even where it was in fact fair.
Damaged or expired goods written off by order alone, with no act and no committee. A classic finding for both the donor and the state inspector.
Aid in kind and the cash part of the project are kept in one stream without separation, so the donor report cannot be reconciled to the ledger.
We covered humanitarian aid accounting in detail, with entries and documents, in the article accounting for humanitarian aid in a non-profit.
Four steps
The donor agreement and terms of reference set the format: an audit, an expenditure verification or a separate report on distribution. We say which applies before the engagement letter.
Customs papers, acceptance acts, warehouse records, distribution registers, orders and internal policies, donor and statutory reports.
We follow the chain from consignment to individual beneficiary on a sample basis, raising findings as we go so that you can still produce documents.
A report in English and Ukrainian in the donor’s format, with a separate section on distribution and internal control where required.
What clients ask most often
How does a humanitarian aid audit differ from a grant audit?
Most transactions are non-cash. Instead of payment orders the evidence is customs papers, acts, warehouse records and distribution registers. The valuation of goods in kind adds a question that simply does not arise in a cash project.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the volume of consignments, the number of beneficiaries and the period covered. We quote after reviewing the assignment, normally within one working day.
Do we need a signature from every beneficiary?
The donor sets the form of confirmation. Most often it is a signed distribution sheet; sometimes photographic or electronic confirmation. What matters is that the method is described in an internal policy and applied consistently.
We distributed aid without registers at the start. What now?
Do not hide it. Describe the situation, gather whatever exists, orders, photographs, statements from the responsible staff, and tell the donor. A deviation disclosed honestly is far easier to close than one found by the auditor.
Can you audit this together with the cash part of the project?
Yes, usually as one engagement. The report still separates the in-kind and cash parts, because the donor looks at them separately.
Request a proposal
Tell us the donor and the period to be covered. We reply within one working day.