Uniformity in Accounts of Government Organizations in India

Uniformity in Accounts of Government Organizations in India

-Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia

The concern of bringing efficiency in functions of Government Organizations always remains at the top in the eyes of administrators. Most of the time, the parliamentary committees observed and pointed out to standardize the accounts of organizations utilizing the amount from Consolidated Fund of India / State / UT. The Government with a focus on ‘Minimum Government – Maximum Governance’, is making the administrators and policymakers accountable to the public for the best utilization of the public resources.

Need of Unified Accounting Standards

The Public Sector Financial Reporting is specifically to support the decisions of Administrators and the research function of think-tanks of the nation. The information based upon the unified accounting standards is used to decide where to supply the public resources or invest the amount for making the public services accessible to the citizens.

The cost of processing information to each stakeholder can easily be reduced by framing unified Accounting Standards and it will also improve the functioning of ministries of the central government, state governments, and all government organizations of India. The reports of the Auditor General always gave emphasis upon improving public financial management and that is possible only through Government Process Re-engineering (GPR) by removing the processes which have no relevance today but are still in the system and adding the new processes to streamline the functions with the use of latest technological tools.

The quality of Government Financial Reporting depends upon the unified Accounting Standards and fixing of responsibilities and accountabilities is also possible only after improving the quality of financial reporting. There is a need for research by collecting structured questionnaires on ‘how decisions are being taken in Central and State Government on various Financial Issues and how the decisions can be taken with the help of implementing software, artificial intelligence, and big data analytical tools in Government?’. The data should be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods to find out the facts and thereafter recommend how the performance of Governments be improved with taking new initiatives and how to fix the financial accountability of decision-makers and those who are implementing the decisions so that the right decision is implemented in the right way without any delay.

Management of Public Assets

The public sector delivery system basically supports the public in getting the public services at the right time, in the right quantum, and without making any grievance. The Central and State Governments are making the processes modified but still, there is a need to manage the public assets more sincerely. From Budgeting to Auditing, the Government Accounting setup is to manage the public assets.

In India, it is found in various research reports that due to lack of standard reporting systems, where the money is appropriated in budget and where it is actually spent or lost or misappropriated, cannot be traced easily. Today the Government is taking steps to privatize the Government Organizations’ work, decentralized the functions to the extent possible, incorporate the quality and output-oriented systems with the help of NITI Ayog, a well-known think-tank of India but the accounting standards are still not with the unified structure of accounts in Government organizations.

What will happen if a Unified Structure of Accounts is adopted?

Whether the Government wants to experience lesser revenue shortfalls in tax collection or not? Whether the Government wants to use Audit recommendations to improve the Financial Functions of Government Organizations or not? Whether the Government wants to automate Accounting to trace irregularities or not? Whether the Government requires to take steps to reduce the misappropriation of public money or not? Obviously, each Government wants these things to realize, but how? Each of these things requires a Unified Structure of Accounts in Government Organizations.

The Usability of Accounting Reports for Decisions in Government

Financial Accounting is concerned with measuring the financial consequences of transactions and events, and it improves the comprehensiveness and transparency in financial functions of the organizations.

It is very easy to say that the unified structure of Government Accounts may sort out the problems of misusing public assets. But it is must understand that the use of Accounting Reports in making decisions in Government so that rational decisions based on scientific facts be taken, it is must incorporate the Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) for each financial decision based on Government Accounting. The countries of the United States, Finland, Russia, etc; have incorporated the SoPs for decisions. In the United States, the GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are used in organizations particularly to ensure uniformity in the accounts of organizations. Multi-national companies (MNCs) with a presence in multiple countries, follow the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) to disclose the aspects of finances such as assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, etc.

Why not be in India? Yes, it should be.

The rational and scientific decisions are possible based on the following facts, which will come from the unified structure of Government organizations such as ‘Valuation of Inventories in each Government Organization’, ‘Cash Flow Statements of the Government Organizations’, ‘Factors behind income or loss of each Government Organizations’, ‘Revenue and Capital Receipts of each Government Organization’, and ‘Fixed Assets, Borrowing Costs as per Cost Accounting Records’, etc. 

*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.

This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. The article was published on 12th August, 2021 and last updated on 4^th September, 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com 

Next Page - Responsibilities of Head of Accounting Organizations

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Superintendents enforce administrative control

Superintendents enforce administrative control

-Dr. Lalit Kumar

The role of superintendents and section officers cannot be under-estimated in enforcing the administrative control. In offices (both private and public sector organizations), the charge to enforce the administrative and financial control is provided to head of the office and the head further relies to a great extent upon section officer or superintendent to ensure the administrative control. The efficiency of official functions depends upon the efficiency of superintendent to a great extent. The role of clerks cannot be underestimated in enforcing financial control in an office. The ministerial staff or cutting edge officers worked under the direct control of superintendent. The following organizational functions are performed by the superintendent to enforce administrative control:

1. Attendance and presence of employees: 

Each employee should be punctual and work as per the office hours sincerely. In case any employee is arriving or not working during office hours, it is the duty of the superintendent to take necessary administrative action. The team-building skills of superintendent make him or her efficient to supervise attendance and performance of each employee. Like in a class, there is monitor to supervise the students to study inside the class under teacher’s direction; a superintendent ensures that all employees should be involved in performing the directions and functions of Head of Office during office hours. Only physical presence of employee, made the office suffered; therefore the superintendent ensures that the employees work with full dedication during the office hours. The employees should not perform their personal operations (chatting, exploring internet for personal purposes, and other personal works during the office hours.

2. Perform functions allotted by Head of Office: 

The superintendent should perform the functions as directed by the Head of Office and ensure that in each function, the deadlines are not missed. He/she can take the support of subordinate staff to perform the functions. Each allotted function should be performed diligently without any delay.

3. Maintenance of official records: 

The files relating to organizational functions are maintained under the overall supervision of superintendent. The records are kept in custody of responsible staff members and properly arranged in specific order so that whenever required, can easily be filtered and used as basis of administrative decisions. It is the duty of superintendent to provide the necessary information to Head of Office whenever required and asked to provide information.

4. Inspection of records: 

The superintendent ensures the proper maintenance of records by the staff members under his or her control. The inspection of records at regular intervals is required to be done so that no irregularity takes place on the table of subordinate staff members. No receipt or file should remain idle on the tables of staff.

5. Equal distribution of work: 

The superintendent ensures the equal distribution of work among employees; however the principle of “right job to the right person” is kept in mind while distributing the work. It is the discretion of superintendent to allocate the organizational functions among employees.

6. Maintenance of Note-book as record of important decision: 

The superintendent participates in the meetings relating to administrative functions of Head of Office and maintains a note-book containing important cases and rulings related to organizational functions. The important decisions and directions discussed and decided in meetings are noted in the note-book. These points of note-book are indexed in specific order so that can be filtered for administrative purposes whenever required.  

7. Maintenance of registers including service books: 

The superintendents maintain the various types of registers related to organizational functions. The service book of each employee is also maintained under his or her supervision, containing the details of service as per the rules of organization. Apart from service books, various other registers are maintained such as diary register (record of daily receipts), daily movement register (record of movement of papers inside and outside organization), and registers to record the communication with higher officers related to office.

8. Safe custody of important orders and decisions: 

The superintendents keep the copies of important rules, orders, manual of instructions, decisions taken on files, work distribution orders etc; in safe custody so that the same can be utilized in administrative decisions whenever required. He/She will also keep the secret/ confidential papers and files under lock with keys to a responsible person.

9. Monitoring the pending works related to external organizations: 

The superintendents in order to dispose the work of organizations keep connections with the external organizations. In order to quick disposal of work, it is the duty of superintendent to expedite the files, communicate with the desired officers and perform the tasks as per requirement. The superintendent will constantly keep close watch over progress of any work and do the needful and communicate same to the Head of Office.

Why Records Management?

The efficiency in the functions of office directly affects from the management of records. The well managed records contribute in fast and effective decisions which on the other hand, the inefficiencies increased if the records are not well managed. The management of organizational information in such a way to support managers and administrators to take good decisions, is the key to success of an organization. The use of stationary, papers, and time of human resources on less managed records is really costly to the organization. To reduce operations cost, most of the organizations are switching to e-Office in India. The central government departments 100% using e-Office today to manage the noting for official correspondence.

Ineffective records management not only fills equipment with unnecessary papers, takes space of office which can be used for other important functions, but also directly increase the cost of operations or works being performed in the offices. With the help of records management, the efficiency and productivity of human resources can easily be enhanced. Even the litigation risks related to delay in providing desired information under the Right to Information Act 2005 can also be easily mitigated.

Each employee of office is responsible to maintain the records under the overall supervision of Superintendent or Head of Office or Head of Department as per the designation of the employee.

Important Tips for Records Management:

To save time, money, and space in an office; always remember, whenever a document is being kept firstly look at its relevance in future. Whether it is useable or not. Unnecessary backup of information becomes very hard to manage real useful information. (a) fix the responsibilities of each employee to keep only the useful information and never create unnecessary information in the files being dealt. (b) train the employees how to create, manage, and store records in effective manner. (c) if a file becomes large, how to break that file in parts that should be known to each employee. (d) The unnecessary maintained files should be reviewed at regular intervals and follow the procedure to keep such files in queue of destruction of the records. (e) The indexing and catalogues which can help each decision maker to use the desired information should be maintained in each record. 

*Copyright © 2020 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved. 

You might also be interested in reading the following: 

1. Writing Resume and Curriculum Vitae 

2. Superintendents enforce and supervise administrative control 

3. SWOT Analysis for Skills Development in Employees 

4. Skills for Earning Money 

5. Sharpening Managerial Skills through Training for Success 

6. Video on Double Click and Type Anywhere in MS-Word 

Each Employee Asks Himself - Am I doing good?

Each Employee Asks Himself - Am I Doing Good?

By Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia 

What does an Employee do for an Employer?

I saw in newspapers, the news stating that the Government employees salaries increased and it is burden on the Finance Department and public to meet their expenditure. It is very easy to criticize the benefits generally entitled to each employee working in Government or Companies. The question here is what does an employee do for an employer that he/she is deserved for such benefits?

When we differentiate the time table of an employee and a person who is not employed; we find that an employee is bound with taking limited sleep hours, then wake up and be prepare for the office. For more than 8 hours, an employee spends for doing work for the employer and thereafter, he/she is assigned work to be completed even by sparing time after office hours. Gone are the days, when there was less work burden and jobs were comfortable to perform the assigned work. Twenty to Forty action items are always in the hands of an employee to complete for the employer and the same is ensured with the help of verification of his/her work at regular intervals.

Hidden Contributions of an Employee:

No doubt, an amount i.e. salary is paid for doing the work. The employee put his whole life or the tenure of employment in the job/work. It is time to look into the obligations of an employee towards the assigned work/job. The employers ask to do something extra everyday, without looking the existing burden of the employee. The employee manage time, again manage time, when things becomes beyond control, stress comes to the life and the employee be suffered from a lot of diseases. The employers provide medical facilities so that such diseases can be treated but these benefits are criticized by the people not serving the employers because 'Only the Wearer knows where the show pinches'. 

The happiness at home, depends upon the desire of employer. The time between sunrise and sunset is devoted to the employer with following hidden sacrifices:

(i) Boss is always right:

Even if an employee is doing hard work but the self appraisal of his work is upon the mercy of the employer to accept his performance or point out the drawbacks which can easily be seen in everyone on work. An employee is born to accept it and he cannot say anything against the remarks of an employer because the conflicts which may form due to his representations are added to his personal file for action by the upcoming bosses. An employee has to accept in all conditions that boss is always right. The work pressure which is usually taken, is hidden to others.  

(ii) Devoting 100% efforts to perform duty:

An employee is bound to put 100% efforts to accomplish the targets or the performance expected from him. Each employee should put whole heart in the work/job everyday and the employers are expected to respect for his devotion to work. The methods of work are followed sincerely by an employee and the rules, policies, directions, guidance of the top management is the first priority to compliance.

(iii) Creativity of Employee:

The employees are expected to sort out problems of their workplace and perform with the creative solutions. The employee learn with experience and become a candle to guide juniors with his flame of knowledge and skills to tackle problems at work. Everyday an employee learns something new and he applies his brain and heart in the interest of an employer/organization. The big decisions require more energy to put into, the emotional energy of an employee works round the clock to achieve organizational goals. It is hidden and nobody can measure the quantum of the emotional energy applied in each decision of employee and there are too many examples of employees leaving their job due to more work burden.

(iv) Contribution in team work of organization:

The organization works for its customers and the public sector enterprises work for rendering public services directly or indirectly. The coordination with co-workers, bosses, and subordinates cannot be measured in terms of outcomes and such contribution is always hidden. Whenever an organization allocates the authorities, the employees be responsible and accountable to perform the desired functions; to contribute towards the functions of organization it is must to coordinate with others and manage the relationships. 

(V) Integrity, honesty and ethical values:

 The work is worship and the employees are fully committed to perform their duties with integrity, honesty and ethical values. While doing their work, they don't pick up their personal calls, they don't perform their private household functions at the workplace; such things are expected and also done by each employee and nobody quantify such sacrifices of an employee towards the organization. The employee never complains if he is facing financial hardship in performing the functions requiring spending money out of his own pocket. He is required to travel from one place to another, he is also required to work with ethical values with code of conduct applies upon them for the workplace functions. 

Even if an employee is stressed due to work burden he is not expected to complain about his employer to superior authorities or to the customers/citizens. He has to put a smile on face always.

(VI) Health of Employee:

It is well said that whatever a person earns up to the age of retirement in his job, he loses his health to a great extent and spend a lot of money to regain the health after retirement. The emotional energy requires more use of brain and the brain cannot function unless the body takes enough rest or sleep. Due to lack of rest, the sufferings come to life and the life is disturbed entirely. To maintain the health, an employee spends a lot on doing exercise, taking adequate diet, and also making expenditure on entertainment to feel relaxed. 

(VII) Work after office hours:

The personal life moments are sacrificed for the office work. A sales professional is required to pick and answer calls of customers after duty hours and a IAS officer also responsible to the citizens 24 hours and 7 days without break. Whatever work is assigned by the employer, even if it is not being covered in office hours, that employee cannot say no. The loyalty of an employee is earned by doing work for the organization and putting hard work continuously. The customers and citizens identify the employee with the name or brand of the organization only if he is putting hard work for that organization. 

In today's work environment, there is lack of trust among the boss and employees. Let us have a look upon this aspect of employee's life:

Lack of Trust among Boss and Employees

The success and failure of an organization depends upon employees, the manpower who is the only active resource using other resources with intellectual power. But in today’s business environment, the trust factor has become most important. The Board of Directors, Promoters, and Government are looking employees with doubt as they are not performing to their full potential, and each employee is bound to ask himself, am I trusted about delivering my best efforts in achievement of the organizational goals.

(a) Doing extra work after office hours:

The needs of each individual make him convinced to think about getting more monetary benefits at work-space. Most of the employees start earning by working in off-hours of their routine job. Those who cannot earn more always think whether he or she is being deprived from monetary benefits or not. The legal structure of a nation, also plays great role in making employees benefited by filing civil suits instead of being victim of deliberately framed rules of the bosses, administrators etc. In service rules or departmental codes, each employee is provided with some rights and in case of infringement of rights, an employee becomes entitled to file a civil suit in the court of civil judge claiming therein the benefits which have not been given to him in violation of some service rules. After receipt of notice issued by civil judge it is duty of the departmental head or boss to examine the case in the light of provisions of service rules or departmental code. In case, under the provisions of service rules the plaintiff is entitled to benefit as claimed by him or her in the suit, a proposal is required to be prepared and put up to the authorities for grant of said benefit followed by bringing the facts in the notice of court that relief claimed by the plaintiff has already been given to the plaintiff.

(b) Conflict and non-performance over workplace

On the other hand, if the claim of the plaintiff is contrary to provisions of service rules or departmental code in that case it is duty of department concerned to examine the civil suit and to prepare reply mentioning therein that the plaintiff is not entitled to the benefit claimed by him in the present civil suit because the claim of the plaintiff is contrary to the provisions of service rules. In such cases, the reply is prepared and then civil suit is disposed off by the civil judge. If a decree is given in favour of plaintiff which is contrary to provision of service rules, in that case Department on the advice of District Attorney and L.R. can file first appeal in the court of District Judge and if the same is dismissed in that event the next Appellate Court is Hon’ble High Court and State Government can approach Hon’ble High Court by way of RSA.  After dismissal of RSA there is only one Appellate Court i.e. Hon’ble Apex Court i.e. Supreme Court of India and Government can approach the Hon’ble Apex Court. 
Apart from the above, Government employee can invoke the jurisdiction of Hon’ble High Court under Art.226 of Constitution of India if some fundamental rights provided under the provisions of Constitution have been infringed by the department.  In this case LPA can be filed against the judgement of Single Judge and SLP can be filed against the judgement of two judges of Hon’ble Court.

*Copyright © 2018 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved. 

This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. He completed his Doctorate in Commerce from Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra and MBA in Information Technology from GJU, Hisar. He also wrote two books, 15 research papers, and organized more than 200 Training Courses during his working period since 2006 in Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram. The article was published on 26th December 2017 and last updated on 19^th September 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com