Presentation on Frequently Asked Questions about the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Supreme Audit Institution of India for the public information

1. The Comptroller and Auditor
General of India,
Supreme Audit Institution of India
Frequently
Asked
Questions
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)

2. 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 OF
INDIA
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)

3. COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA
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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)

4. COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA
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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)

5. COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA
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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)

6. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

7. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

8. 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 Audit
Besides this there are other audits as well on
Information technology and Environmental
issues.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

9. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

10. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

11. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

12. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

13. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

14. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

15. 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)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

16. 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.
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)
COMPTROLLER AND
AUDITOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA

17. For enjoying the Presentation on
the Frequently Asked Questions on
C&AG of India
(One of the Constitutional Body of India)