Functions of Accounts Branch
On March 9, 2020; the Indian Express reported news concerning embezzlement by the staff members of the accounts branch in the Police Department of Chandigarh. A Special Investigation Team was constituted to probe the scandal through the transfer of allowances, Leave Travel Allowance into the salary accounts of 40 police personnel. The Superintendent of Police (S.P.) transferred the suspected employees to investigate whether they tampered with the accounting records or not.
The organizations are governed by rules for utilizing the amount either provided by the Government (in case of public sector organizations) or raised from the market (in case of private sector organizations). The rules are taught in various training workshops at the Administrative Training Institutes of India. The private sector organizations showed their financial information and get it audited from the Chartered Accountants (CAs). In the case of public sector organizations, the accounts branch under the supervision of the Controller of Accounts i.e. Chief Accounts Officer or Drawing and Disbursing Officer; performs various functions.
The organizations are governed by rules for utilizing the amount either provided by the Government (in case of public sector organizations) or raised from the market (in case of private sector organizations). The rules are taught in various training workshops at the Administrative Training Institutes of India. The private sector organizations showed their financial information and get it audited from the Chartered Accountants (CAs). In the case of public sector organizations, the accounts branch under the supervision of the Controller of Accounts i.e. Chief Accounts Officer or Drawing and Disbursing Officer; performs various functions.
Functions of Accounts Branch in Organizations of Government of India:
The Government of India
Organizations i.e. Central Public Sector Organizations are supposed to perform
various functions to ensure proper utilization of budget, funds, and monies
realized for specific purposes.
(i) Consolidation of Accounting Information:
The Controller General of
Accounts (CGA) working under the Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of
Finance, Government of India; requires accounting information from each public
sector organization after consolidation in their concerned office of Principal
Accounts Office (PAO). Each Government organization process its payments
through PAO and also deposits its receipts through PAO.
The Accounting
Information is prepared in form of the appropriate Head of Accounts. The Annual
Head Wise Appropriation Accounts and Statement of Transactions are prepared for
the office and based on records of each office, consolidated statements
are prepared of the Ministry.
(ii) Maintenance of Banking Records with Reconciliation of
Accounts:
All transactions are not
performed through Principal Accounts Office, in other words, the transactions
which are related to payments and receipts in Banking Accounts, are required to
be maintained separately. It is required to reconcile the cash with the balance
of bank accounts every month.
(iii) Internal Audit:
For each Government Organization, it is required to ensure compliance with financial rules. The accounts branch keeps
the accounting records as per the rules of the Government but to
ensure the proper compliance of rules, it is required to conduct the internal
audit are regular intervals.
For effective conduct of
internal audit, the Head of Department deputes the Accounts Officers of one
office to another office and vice-versa and directs to check the
irregularities. The officers are trained by the Administrative Training
Institutions (ATIs) in various skills relating to the internal audit including
use of Information Technology, Rules, Effective Accounting Systems, and
Policies.
(iv) Use of Computers and Information Technology:
The more the use of information technology, more the effective financial control will be. It is a must to use information technology for effective financial administration. The Government
organizations of Central Government, are required to use the computers and
information technology as per the directions from the Ministries. Nowadays,
the organizations are utilizing the COMPACT Software and e-Lekha portal for
computerizing the accounting records as well as for generating various types of
consolidated statements of their offices.
(a) e-Lekha:
The e-Lekha software is
used by the Principal Accounts Offices to generate accounting reports including
Grant-wise Reports, Major Head-wise Reports, Revenue Receipts, Payments Records
etc.
It is basically an initiative of the Government of India through which the e-Governance can be
strengthened. By uploading daily abstracts of accounts through PAO offices, the
ministries can easily access the payments and receipts of each office and
ensure the proper flow of cash.
(b) Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System:
CPSMS (Central Plan
Scheme Monitoring System) is another tool that helps Government to monitor
the payments or disbursement of amounts under each Government scheme and ensure
payments to real beneficiaries for whom the schemes are formulated. The schemes
are incorporated into the software.
