DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68026#0204
198
APPENDIX :
(,/) an annual Appropriation Report of the re-
venue and expenditure under his audit is pre-
pared by the Accountant General at the end
of the year for submission to the Government
of India through the Local Government ;
(Vs) a review of the balances of debt heads in his
accounts at the end of the year is also pre-
pared by the Accountant General and sub-
mitted to the Comptroller General.
7. As regards the audit and account work of the
Comptroller and Auditor General, the work is generally
a work of direction and supervision, and of compila-
tion, review, or examination of figures and statements
on behalf of the central Finance Department.
In the first place, the Comptroller General by com-
bining the monthly or annual accounts received from
the several Civil and Departmental Account Officers
prepares one consolidated account for the whole
Empire for submission to the Government of India.
Secondly, the report on Objection Book balances
anfi the state of audit and account work, and the report
on arrears of work are intended for a review of the
progress of work for the information of the Govern-
ment of India.
Thirdly, the provincial and departmental Appropria-
tion Reports are reviewed by the Comptroller and
Auditor General who prepares one Appropriation
Report for the whole of India for submission to the
Government of India and publishes it in the Gazette
of India.
The local departmental Reviews of Balances are also
examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General,
who satisfies himself how far the balances represent
the admitted assets and liabilities of the Government,
and submits his separate review to Government.
Finally, as Auditor General, he, through his deputies,
inspects and conducts a test audit of all offices of
account, both Civil and Departmental, so as to satisfy
the Government that the detailed audit conducted by
the local and departmental account offices is efficient,
that the regulations and orders of the Government are
duly enforced, and that the procedure in those offices
is in accordance with the Codes and suitable for the
efficient performance of their duties.
8. In the above enumeration of the audit and account
work of the Comptroller and Auditor General, reference
has been made to the accounts and reports of depart-
mental or non-civil Audit and Account Officers.
These are the separate Audit and Account Officers of
the Postal, Public Works (including Telegraph and
Railways) and Military (including Marine) Accounts
Departments. One peculiarity of the routine of the
audit and account work of these departments, as com-
pared with the civil account system, is that, while in
the case of civil revenue and expenditure the officers
of the treasury are generally the disbursers and
accountants and render accounts with vouchers to
the Civil Accountant General, in the case of the non-
civil departments the monetary transactions with the
treasury are treated originally as imprests or receipts
on account like the Exchequer Account in England, and
the Audit Officers get proper accounts with vouchers
from their own disbursers and accountants different
from the treasury staff.
9. The relations of the Comptroller, Post Office,
with the Comptroller and Auditor General are in
every respect the same as those of a Civil Accountant
General. He is an officer of the Finance Department,
and in relation to him the Director General of the
Post Offices in India takes the place of a Local Govern-
ment in the Provinces. The Officers of the Military
and Public Works Accounts departments are under
the administrative control of the respective Secre-
tariats of the Government of India, but in all matters
of account they are in immediate subordination to the
Comptroller and Auditor General and refer to him
direct all questions affecting changes in audit proce-
dure and classification in the public accounts. Like
the Civil Accountants General, they also render to him
classified accounts of their departments or circles of
audit, as well as the Appropriation Reports and Reviews
of Balances for the compilation of the consolidated
accounts or reviews of the Empire. As already stated,
the Comptroller General also conducts a test audit
of the non-civil account offices. Thus, although the
Comptroller and Auditor General is an officer of the
Finance Department, he is the central authority in
audit and account matters irrespective of the Depart-
ment to which the local audit and account officers
belong.
10. Besides compiling for the Government of India
a complete monthly account of the receipts and ex-
penditure of the whole Empire, the Comptroller and
Auditor General prepares at the end of the year the
Finance and Revenue Accounts for submission to
Parliament. He also keeps the Government of India
informed of the progress of Revenue and Expendi-
ture and the state of Ways and Means throughout the
year. Thus he submits to the Government in the last
week of every month an estimate of the probable
receipts and payments and the cash balances of that
month and of the two following months, comparing his
estimates with the budget forecasts made at the begin-
ning of the year. On the 9th of the following month
he reports to the Finance Department the approximate
receipts and issues in the month from treasuries in
detail of departments, and fuller details of the chief
heads of civil revenue and expenditure follow on
the 16th. He also publishes on the 9th the cash
balances in the treasuries for the information of the
public. An approximate account of the monthly
financial transactions of the Government of India in
India and England is also compiled by the Comptroller
and Auditor General and published in the Gazette
of India about the last week of the second month.
In all the work of compilation, the Comptroller and
Auditor General gets his materials from the civil and
departmental Account Officers, and the figures are
checked and corrected by him on the basis of informa-
tion available to him.
11. In addition to the ordinary account and audit
work, the Civil Accountant General compiles and
reviews the annual budget estimates of the Local
Government and prepares budget notes for the Finan-
cial Secretary to the Government of India, bringing to
notice the salient features in the new estimates of
civil revenue and expenditure. The Accountant
General gives advice to the Local Government in the
preparation of the budget estimates, but the respon-
sibility lies with the Government without whose
authority he cannot enter or alter any figures. The
revision of the estimate for the current year, however,
which is made concurrently with the budget estimate,
is on the sole responsibility of the Accountant
General.
The Comptroller and Auditor General is also asso-
ciated with the Financial Secretary in the work of
compiling the figures of the budget estimates for the
annual Financial Statement. He makes for com-
parison with the budget prepared in the Financial
Department of the Government of India, an indepen-
dent compilation of the estimates of the various
Accountants General (Civil, Military, Public Works)
and submits it to that department with his own
estimates of the debt heads, interest on debt, ex-
change, and ways and means, reviewing the other
estimates with special reference to the state of the
cash balances.
12. In addition to his audit and account work, the
Comptroller and Auditor General undertakes as an
executive officer of the Finance Department many
duties which would be discharged in England by the
Secretary to the Treasury. He is responsible for the
ways and means, for the management of the national
debt, and he is also the Head of the Department of
Issue of Paper Currency and he regulates the rate and
amount of coinage at the Government Mints.
13. In India, as already stated, the revenues are
collected and held in local civil treasuries throughout
the country under the supervision of the Accountant
General in each province, acting under the general
direction of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The funds are not, as in England, remitted to one
great central banking account, nor are the disburse-
ments of the Military, Civil, Public Works or other'
Services met from one central source, but they are
supplied from the civil treasuries. At the same time
a considerable portion of the expenditure of the
Government of India is incurred in England, and
funds for this expenditure are drawn by means of
weekly allotments at the India Office by bills on Cal-
cutta, Madras and Bombay according to trade demands.
It is an important part of the duty of the Comptroller
and Auditor General to see that the surplus of district
treasuries is collected as quickly and as economically
APPENDIX :
(,/) an annual Appropriation Report of the re-
venue and expenditure under his audit is pre-
pared by the Accountant General at the end
of the year for submission to the Government
of India through the Local Government ;
(Vs) a review of the balances of debt heads in his
accounts at the end of the year is also pre-
pared by the Accountant General and sub-
mitted to the Comptroller General.
7. As regards the audit and account work of the
Comptroller and Auditor General, the work is generally
a work of direction and supervision, and of compila-
tion, review, or examination of figures and statements
on behalf of the central Finance Department.
In the first place, the Comptroller General by com-
bining the monthly or annual accounts received from
the several Civil and Departmental Account Officers
prepares one consolidated account for the whole
Empire for submission to the Government of India.
Secondly, the report on Objection Book balances
anfi the state of audit and account work, and the report
on arrears of work are intended for a review of the
progress of work for the information of the Govern-
ment of India.
Thirdly, the provincial and departmental Appropria-
tion Reports are reviewed by the Comptroller and
Auditor General who prepares one Appropriation
Report for the whole of India for submission to the
Government of India and publishes it in the Gazette
of India.
The local departmental Reviews of Balances are also
examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General,
who satisfies himself how far the balances represent
the admitted assets and liabilities of the Government,
and submits his separate review to Government.
Finally, as Auditor General, he, through his deputies,
inspects and conducts a test audit of all offices of
account, both Civil and Departmental, so as to satisfy
the Government that the detailed audit conducted by
the local and departmental account offices is efficient,
that the regulations and orders of the Government are
duly enforced, and that the procedure in those offices
is in accordance with the Codes and suitable for the
efficient performance of their duties.
8. In the above enumeration of the audit and account
work of the Comptroller and Auditor General, reference
has been made to the accounts and reports of depart-
mental or non-civil Audit and Account Officers.
These are the separate Audit and Account Officers of
the Postal, Public Works (including Telegraph and
Railways) and Military (including Marine) Accounts
Departments. One peculiarity of the routine of the
audit and account work of these departments, as com-
pared with the civil account system, is that, while in
the case of civil revenue and expenditure the officers
of the treasury are generally the disbursers and
accountants and render accounts with vouchers to
the Civil Accountant General, in the case of the non-
civil departments the monetary transactions with the
treasury are treated originally as imprests or receipts
on account like the Exchequer Account in England, and
the Audit Officers get proper accounts with vouchers
from their own disbursers and accountants different
from the treasury staff.
9. The relations of the Comptroller, Post Office,
with the Comptroller and Auditor General are in
every respect the same as those of a Civil Accountant
General. He is an officer of the Finance Department,
and in relation to him the Director General of the
Post Offices in India takes the place of a Local Govern-
ment in the Provinces. The Officers of the Military
and Public Works Accounts departments are under
the administrative control of the respective Secre-
tariats of the Government of India, but in all matters
of account they are in immediate subordination to the
Comptroller and Auditor General and refer to him
direct all questions affecting changes in audit proce-
dure and classification in the public accounts. Like
the Civil Accountants General, they also render to him
classified accounts of their departments or circles of
audit, as well as the Appropriation Reports and Reviews
of Balances for the compilation of the consolidated
accounts or reviews of the Empire. As already stated,
the Comptroller General also conducts a test audit
of the non-civil account offices. Thus, although the
Comptroller and Auditor General is an officer of the
Finance Department, he is the central authority in
audit and account matters irrespective of the Depart-
ment to which the local audit and account officers
belong.
10. Besides compiling for the Government of India
a complete monthly account of the receipts and ex-
penditure of the whole Empire, the Comptroller and
Auditor General prepares at the end of the year the
Finance and Revenue Accounts for submission to
Parliament. He also keeps the Government of India
informed of the progress of Revenue and Expendi-
ture and the state of Ways and Means throughout the
year. Thus he submits to the Government in the last
week of every month an estimate of the probable
receipts and payments and the cash balances of that
month and of the two following months, comparing his
estimates with the budget forecasts made at the begin-
ning of the year. On the 9th of the following month
he reports to the Finance Department the approximate
receipts and issues in the month from treasuries in
detail of departments, and fuller details of the chief
heads of civil revenue and expenditure follow on
the 16th. He also publishes on the 9th the cash
balances in the treasuries for the information of the
public. An approximate account of the monthly
financial transactions of the Government of India in
India and England is also compiled by the Comptroller
and Auditor General and published in the Gazette
of India about the last week of the second month.
In all the work of compilation, the Comptroller and
Auditor General gets his materials from the civil and
departmental Account Officers, and the figures are
checked and corrected by him on the basis of informa-
tion available to him.
11. In addition to the ordinary account and audit
work, the Civil Accountant General compiles and
reviews the annual budget estimates of the Local
Government and prepares budget notes for the Finan-
cial Secretary to the Government of India, bringing to
notice the salient features in the new estimates of
civil revenue and expenditure. The Accountant
General gives advice to the Local Government in the
preparation of the budget estimates, but the respon-
sibility lies with the Government without whose
authority he cannot enter or alter any figures. The
revision of the estimate for the current year, however,
which is made concurrently with the budget estimate,
is on the sole responsibility of the Accountant
General.
The Comptroller and Auditor General is also asso-
ciated with the Financial Secretary in the work of
compiling the figures of the budget estimates for the
annual Financial Statement. He makes for com-
parison with the budget prepared in the Financial
Department of the Government of India, an indepen-
dent compilation of the estimates of the various
Accountants General (Civil, Military, Public Works)
and submits it to that department with his own
estimates of the debt heads, interest on debt, ex-
change, and ways and means, reviewing the other
estimates with special reference to the state of the
cash balances.
12. In addition to his audit and account work, the
Comptroller and Auditor General undertakes as an
executive officer of the Finance Department many
duties which would be discharged in England by the
Secretary to the Treasury. He is responsible for the
ways and means, for the management of the national
debt, and he is also the Head of the Department of
Issue of Paper Currency and he regulates the rate and
amount of coinage at the Government Mints.
13. In India, as already stated, the revenues are
collected and held in local civil treasuries throughout
the country under the supervision of the Accountant
General in each province, acting under the general
direction of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The funds are not, as in England, remitted to one
great central banking account, nor are the disburse-
ments of the Military, Civil, Public Works or other'
Services met from one central source, but they are
supplied from the civil treasuries. At the same time
a considerable portion of the expenditure of the
Government of India is incurred in England, and
funds for this expenditure are drawn by means of
weekly allotments at the India Office by bills on Cal-
cutta, Madras and Bombay according to trade demands.
It is an important part of the duty of the Comptroller
and Auditor General to see that the surplus of district
treasuries is collected as quickly and as economically