Ans.
Audit
conducted by the Indian Audit and Accounts Department is in the nature of
ex-post facto examination.In some cases, certain classes of payments are made
after the claims have been audited and passed by audit. But these payments
comprise a negligible percentage of the total expenditure of government. Since
audit is conducted after the events have occurred, it cannot prevent an
overpayment or nonobservance of the financial rules and regulations. Also, it
cannot stop the executive authorities from the commission of any irregularity
or impropriety during the course of transactions.But the effectiveness of audit
depends upon its right to report the results of audit to the proper
authorities, which may be a departmental authority, the Government itself, or
Parliament through the Public Accounts Committee.These bodies can then take
appropriate action to rectify the irregularity or impropriety.The results of
audit are required to be reported by the Audit Officer to the administrative
authorities concerned at the earliest opportunity. These authorities then
become responsible for the settlement of objections raised by audit authorities.It
is also the responsibility of the administrative authorities to effect recovery
of any amount disbursed wrongly.
The
Audit officers keep pursuing the objections raised by them till these are
settled to their satisfaction by the administration. Finally, after completion
of a year's accounts, the results of audit are reported to the concerned
Government and their legislatures through the instrument of Audit Reports.The
Constitution has prescribed the procedure to be followed by the Comptroller and
Auditor General for presentation pf the audit reports. The reports of the CAG
in regard to the Union Government accounts shall be submitted to the president
and the State Government accounts shall be submitted to Governor of the State.
At
present, the Comptroller and Auditor General submits three reports viz.,
• Audit Report on the
Appropriation Accounts,
• Audit Report on the Finance
Accounts and
• Audit Report on the
Commercial and Public Sector Enterprises and revenue receipts on Union and
State governments.
• The responsibility of the
Comptroller and Auditor General ceases with the submission of the audit reports
to the President/Governor who causes them to be laid before the Parliament or
the State Legislatures respectively.
• In actual practice, the
audit reports of various governments are received by the Ministry of Finance on
behalf of the President.
• The Finance Minister lays
them on the table of each House of Parliament.
• Regarding Audit Reports of
states, similar procedure is followed generally.
