Comptroller and Auditor General of India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Audit in India

Audit of Government accounts (including the accounts of the States) in India is a Union subject and is entrusted to the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India who is empowered to audit all expenditure form the revenues of the Union or States incurred in India or outside. All their transactions relating to debt, deposits, remittances, etc., all trading, manufacturing and profit and loss accounts and balance sheets kept under the order of the President or Governor; and receipts and stock accounts with the approval of the President or Governor or when required by these.

[edit] Comptroller and Auditor General of India

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is an authority, established by the Constitution of India who audits all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the States including those of bodies and authorities substantially financed by the government. He/she is also the external auditor of government companies. The Reports of the C&AG are tabled in the Parliament of India and State legislatures and are taken up for consideration by special parliamentary/legislative committees called the Public Accounts Committees. He is the head of the Indian Audits & Accounts Department with over 58,000 employees spread over the country to assist him in the discharge of his mandate.

The present Comptroller and Auditor General of India is Vinod Rai, who was appointed on 7th January, 2008. He is the eleventh CAG of India. The other Comptroller and Auditors General of India under the Constitution of India have been V. Narahari Rao (up to 1954), A.K.Chanda (1954-1960), A.K.Roy (1960-1966), S.Ranganathan (1966-1972), A.Bakshi (1972-1978), Gian Prakash (1978-1984), T.N.Chaturvedi (1984-1990), C.G.Somiah (1990-1996), V.K.Shunglu (1996-2002) and V.N.Kaul(2002-2008).

The State Accountants General act as the representatives of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG), in the States and Union Territories (UT). There are two offices, under the C&AG, in each state one for audit and the other for accounts each headed by an Accountant General. The Accountant General (Audit), audits the transactions of the respective State/UT governments, involving budgetary revenues and expenditures on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The Accountant General (A&E) is responsible for the compilation of accounts of transactions in the treasuries and submission of monthly financial statements to the respective State governments.After the end of each financcial year annual Finance Accounts and Appropriation Accounts of the Government of India and the States are certified by the C&AG. Besides, the State Accountant General (A&E) also discharges other functions such as maintenance of General Provident Fund accounts/Loan accounts, issue of payslips and processing of pensionary claims of the state government employees.