Frequently Asked Questions on C&AG of India

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Supreme Audit Institution of India

Frequently Asked

Questions

(One of the Constitutional Body of India)

Question No.1: What is SAI of India?Answer: SAI of India (Supreme Audit Institution of

India) is the Indian Audit and Account Department. It acts as an instrument for ensuring accountability. The constitution of India has mandated SAI of India to function as Auditors to the nation. SAI of India has Comptroller and Audit General of India and the Indian Audit & Account Department as its constituents. The SAI of India audits both central and state government and also maintains the accounts of state governments.

COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR-GENERAL

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Question No.2: What is the role of CAG?Answer: In the Indian system of governance, the policies are set by the parliament and the state legislators give the goals to be achieved through the public spending. These policies are the translated into program and then implemented by various department of government. For this, parliament sanctions the budget detailing the mode of collection, amount of collection and also for the purpose for it is to be spent and the government departments are accountable for the quantity and quality of their expenditure to the parliament. CAG assists the parliament to enforce the said accountability of the govt. departments.



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Question No.3: How government ensures the independent functioning of CAG?Answer: Constitution of India enables the independent and unbiased nature of audit by the CAG by providing :• Appointed by the president of India.• Special procedure for removal (like a supreme court judge)• Salary and Expenses are charged (not voted)• Can’t hold any other government office after his term expires.



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Question No.4: What is CAG’s DPC Act and what are its duties?Answer: The Comptroller and Auditor General’s Duties, power and Conditions of services) Act, 1971 is a detailed legislation enacted by parliament in the year of 1971. This Act lays down the service conditions to secure the autonomous nature of the CAG. It also mandate and puts almost every spending, revenue collecting or aid/grant receiving unit of government under CAG’s audit domain.


Question No.5: Which all organizations are subject to be audited by SAI India?Answer: The organizations subject to the audit of SAI of India are:• All the Union and State Government department including the Indian Railways defense and Post & telecommunication,• About 1500 public commercial Enterprises controlled by Union and state government,• About 400 non commercial autonomous bodies and authorities owned or controlled by the union or states,• Bodies and authorities substantially financed from Union or State Finance.



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Question No.6: How does audit take place?Answer: First of all every audit office prepares its Annual Audit Plan detailing the units to be audited during the year after the risk assessment exercise is been done. The audit plan is carried out through Quarterly Audit program. The department to be audited is informed in advance and then Field Audit is done by Senior Audit officers and Assistant Audit Officers. These officers conduct local inspection of records. Then all operational and financial documents are checked. Next to it queries are made and reply is obtained through the respective departments.



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Question No.7-: What are different types of Audit?Answer: Depending on the objective of Audit, the audits are mainly classified as follows:• Compliance Audit• Financial Attest Audit• Performance AuditBesides this there are other audits as well on Information technology and Environmental issues.



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Question No.8: What is Compliance Audit?Answer: Compliance Audit is a transaction Audit in which some selected transactions of an entity for a particular financial year is chosen for examination for example, a purchase made by a medical officer, a contract made by the public works division for building a road or Tax assessment by an Assessment Officer.



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Question No.9: What is Financial Attest Audit?Answer: It’s a “Supplementary Audit” with the primary auditor usually being a Chartered Accountant. It is used to certify how far the accounts are true and fair i.e. whether the financial statements are properly prepared, complete in all respects and are presented with adequate disclosures.



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Question No.10: What is Performance Audit?Answer: The Performance Audits are seeks to establish at what cost and to what degree the policies, programme and projects are working in the organisation. In addition to all the financial audit checks, it assess whether a scheme or activity deploys sound means to achieve its intended socio economic objectives.



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Question No.11: What is Information Technology Audit?Answer: It seeks to take up audit of computerized systems and e-governance initiatives of Govts.

Question No.12: What is Social Audit?Answer: The objective of Social Audit is to muster the local knowledge and competence of various civil society organizations for a better reach of the formal audit process and to evaluate the performance of government Scheme. Its being carried out for social sector schemes such as health, education, rural employment and water.



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Question No.13: What is Environmental Audit?Answer: It’s a performance audit on various environmental issues and then to conduct research on environmental issue and sustainable development in India.



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Question No.14: What are the Audit Reports?Answer: It’s the final product of the entire audit process. It contains the final fully corroborated audit findings. It may be accepted by the department and/or proved factually and are material enough to be placed in legislature and then it is seek to determine the nature of inadequacies identified.



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Question No.15: What are the benefits of the Audit Reports?Answer: Audit Reports helps us in Quantitative as well as in Qualitative terms. The on-site audit is conducted annually and simultaneously issue inspection report in more 64000 units of the Union, State and Union Territory Government s across the country and abroad and audit 14.33 million vouchers and transactions. It helps to check the quantum of over payments /under recoveries in the range of Rs.15000 crore and recoveries upwards of Rs.2750 crore in transactions Qualitatively, Audit reports provide an in-depth analysis of the financial health of Union and State Government and facilitate them to take necessary corrective action in case of financial lapses and to alter law and policy, if change is required.(One of the Constitutional Body of India)


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Question No.16: What is the Advisory Role of SAI of India?Answer: The advisory roles of SAI are as follows:•With the help of GASAB, it frames Government Accounting Standard for greater transparency.•It helps Finance commission to gain an informed opinion on State Government Finances.•Helps the Government department in strengthening internal controls and improved financial management in the system.•It organizes various workshops and seminars in Accrual Accounting etc. for state govt. departments.



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Frequently Asked Questions on C&AG of India