What is the Full Form of CAG?

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What are the Duties and Powers?

The CAG has wide-ranging duties and powers, from compiling accounts to auditing and detecting fraud. Here are the major duties and powers.

#1 – Compile Accounts of Union and States

The CAG is required to compile the Union and State governments’ accounts from the initial and subsidiary accounts. The initial accounts are kept with treasuries, offices, or departments of central and state governments, which are furnished to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for compilation.

#2 – Prepare and Submit Accounts

After compiling, the CAG prepares and submits the accounts to the President, Governors of States, and Administrators of Union Territories having Legislative Assemblies, detailing the receipts and expenditure of the state and union government bodies.

#3 – Auditing Accounts

He is duty-bound to audit the accounts furnished to it by the government, government bodies, and companies to ascertain that the receipts and expenditures mentioned in the account are true to their nature. He audits whether the expenditures mentioned in the accounts have been disbursed for the applicable purpose and cause.

#4 – Audit of Bodies or Authorities

The CAG audits receipts and expenditures of bodies or authorities majorly financed from Union or State revenues. These bodies and authorities get loans and grants from the State and Union fund and have to be audited to ensure the proper use of the funds granted.

#5 – Auditing powers of the CAG

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India have the authority to 1) inspect any office of accounts controlled by the Union or State government, including treasuries and offices responsible for the keeping of initial or subsidiary accounts, 2) call for accounts, books, paper, and documents concerning the audit to be furnished at his appointed place of inspection, 3) question the people in charge of preparing the initial accounts, or ask for more information to perform the audit.

#6 – Auditing the Government Companies

The CAG should perform the audit of government companies following the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956.

#7 – Furnish Reports to Concerned Governments

The CAG should furnish the audit reportsThe CAG Should Furnish The Audit ReportsAn audit report is a document prepared by an external auditor at the end of the auditing process that consolidates all of his findings and observations about a company’s financial statements.read more on state and union finances and government companies to the concerned government (state or union) to be tabled in the parliament and respective legislative assemblies.

#8 – Audit of Accounts of Certain Authorities or Bodies

The CAG must audit certain authorities and bodies that have not been entrusted to it if requested by the President of India, union or state government, or other administrative bodies.

#9 – Power to make Rules and Regulations

The Union Government, after consultation with the CAG, can make rules for the maintenance of accounts by government bodies and authorities to be followed by their treasuries and accounting departmentsAccounting DepartmentsThe accounting department looks after preparing financial statements, maintaining a general ledger, paying bills, preparing customer bills, payroll, and more. In other words, they are responsible for managing the overall economic front of the business.read more for appropriate furnishing of their accounts for compiling and auditing by the CAG. He is also authorized to make regulations concerning the applicability of the act under which it is governed.

Role of CAG

The role is to ensure that the Union and State accounts are in order and free from misappropriations and errors.

  • The CAG audit provides the requisite credibility to the books of accounts of the governments and their organizations. The role is to ensure the highest standards of audits are applied to maintain the credibility of accounts.The Comptroller and Auditor General of India can not ask for details on the secret service expenditure and has to rely on a certificate entailing that the expenditure has been incurred under the authority of a competent administration.He can also perform a propriety audit to ascertain the relevance (wisdom, faithfulness, and economy) of the governments and their bodies’ expenditures and point out wasteful expenditures. This is a mere obligation and not a legal or regulatory requirement.He also has a role in prescribing best practices in accountingPractices In AccountingAccounting practice is a set of procedures and controls used by an entity’s accounting department to keep track of accounting records and entries. Other reports are generated based on accounting records, such as financial statements, cash flow statements, fund flow statements, payroll, tax workings, payment and receipts statements, and so on, and they form the basis of the auditor’s reliance while auditing the financial statements.read more and reporting for the authorities to represent these bodies’ best nature of receipts and expenditures.

Which are the Reports filed by CAG?

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India file the following three audit reports tabled before appropriate legislative assemblies, including the parliament.

  • Reports concerning appropriation showing the grants and loans rendered from the state and union finances are used for the envisaged purposes by bodies and authorities.Audit report on state and union finances, including their receipts and expenditures, furnished to the respective state governments and the central government.Audit reports concerning the state of accounts of the companies controlled by the state and central government either jointly or in isolation.

What is the Salary of CAG?

The CAG is paid a salary equal to that of the Judge of the Supreme Court. They receive Rs. 3,00,000 as an annual salary (Rs. 25,000 per month). Additional perks are over and above the salary received by the CAG.

Who is Currently the Comptroller and Auditor General of India?

The current CAG of India is G. C. Murmu, appointed on August 8, 2020. He is the 14th Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Also, he serves as the external auditor of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Conclusion

The CAG has been instrumental in bringing out some of the most debated reports, including the 2G spectrum allocation report, the coal mine allocation report, and the Fodder Scam. These reports have led to numerous litigations, cancellations of licenses, and convictions of prominent figures in politics and business.

This has been a guide to Full Form of CAG & its definition. Here we learn duties & powers of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, its role & salary. You may refer to the following articles to learn more about finance –

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