Best Practices in Vetting New Partners

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR VETTING POTENTIAL PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

There are 4 very important attributes to look for when vetting a new organization.

​

They are strategic in nature and contribute to an environment of high integrity for both short-term and long-term sustainable relationships.

​

They are:

• Philosophy/ Longevity
• External
• Internal
• Infrastructure & Controls

​

​

​

​

​

1. Philosophy/Longevity

​

• Has the organization been in existence for at least 3 years?

​

• Is the organization’s mission/ character aligned with the funding organizations mission and tax exempt purposes?

​

2. External

• Is the organization registered to operate as a not –for- profit entity?

​

• Does the organization maintain compliance with the country’s rules and regulatory environment where they operate?

​

• Has the organization been endorsed by SIL, the Wycliffe Global Alliance or other partner organizations as to financial accountability?

​

• Does the organization have regular audits? ( Most of the new partners don’t)

​

• Is the organization authorized to receive, spend, and repatriate foreign contributions?

3.Internal

• Does the organization have a competent and independent Board of Directors?

​

• Does the organization have a proven track record of in Financial Management?

​

• Does the organization have a code of ethics signed by directors and key staff ?

4. Infrastructure & Process Controls

• Is the organization willing & able to maintain fund accounting & report on the usage of funds to the funding organization?

​

• Does the organization have adequate technological infrastructure?

​

• Is the organization staffed by competent professionals?

• The Field Partner Data Gathering Questionnaire is intended to be a conversational guide and a checklist to assist the F.C in collecting information and should thus not be given to the partner to fill out.
• Start the vetting process in the early stages of relationship building when the language translation needs are being assessed to avoid the last minute rush or delay in project commencement.
• Be more candid when making your final recommendations(Do not recommend a partner who does not possess most of the key attributes, if a partner has a history of fraud or mismanagement, let them start as field engaged partners and be financed on a reimbursement basis)
• Do not rush through the vetting process since you may end up overlooking critical issues that may lead to challenges down the road.
• Watch out for overly domineering directors or staff who do not give room for proper segregation of duties
• Ensure you take the new partner through the M.O.U, banking agreement and the banking information addendum

​

• Field-engaged partners are set-up like an advance-agreement relationship where the accounting is started on the field and completed in-house at GP office. This assures that funds sent are meeting the USA laws, requirements and proper accounting procedures.

​

• The desire of the Global Partnership team is to enable our partners to have sufficient capacity for their financial reporting.

​

​

• The partners send in a financial package that includes expense journals(USD Bank, Local Currency Bank , & Cash journal and cash count form) ,monthly bank statements(USD & Local Currency), logs and receipts(have sufficient description, be dated, signed , numbered and scanned).

​

In a typical FA review of expense journals, the Financial Analyst is:

• Verifying beginning balances with ending balances from the prior expense journal
• Verifying income received and exchange rate used/calculated ( Found in the wire transfer information. For multiple disbursements within a month an average rate is calculated automatically in the excel sheet)
• Reviewing expenses for time period, account code classification, description/business purpose, and amount
• Complete receipt sampling.

​

​

• The Financial Analyst reviews the expense journals to ensure the information is accurate and consistent with the approved budget and is on track with translation progress.
• The Financial Analyst is also to analyze the information, watching for potential issues or need for amendments.

​

​

Note :

• For questions that the Financial Analyst has concerning the partner’s entries, the FA will need to communicate with either the FC or the field partner to receive answers to questions.
• FA will then provide a Monthly Financial Statement showing Actual Expenses vs Budgeted Expenses with variances.
• Receipts should be from place of purchase as often as possible, numbered and listed on Team Reports or Cash Expense Report.
• Only use a signed list when you do not have an actual receipt from a vendor . Sometimes you cannot get a receipt. An example would be from public transport or buying food in the market place. Then you could make a list of your purchase, sign the list and have your supervisor sign it.