Para 3.11.6 — MSO

Closing Balances

Receipt and repayment or withdrawal of deposits 3.11.6 The main points to be checked by Audit with reference to the receipt and repayment of deposits are as follows:

(i) Audit should satisfy itself that no monies are received for deposit in the Public Account of the Government unless the deposits are such as are specifically required or authorised to be held in the government custody by virtue of any statutory provisions or of general or special orders of the Government.

(ii) It should also be verified that no item, which could be credited as a revenue receipt or in reduction of ordinary expenditure of Government, is credited as a deposit in the accounts of that Government.

(iii) Audit should ensure that monies received on account of revenue deposits, civil court deposits, criminal court deposits, etc. are duly supported by challans and necessary vouchers are available in support of withdrawals from such deposits.

(iv) Similarly, the deposits into Local Fund Accounts and Special Deposits Accounts of government companies, corporations, etc. should be supported by the relevant challans, including those relating to transfer credits. Repayments of such deposits should be made only by cheques.

(v) Principles and Rules of audit that govern audit of expenditure apply mutatis mutandis to disbursements under deposit heads as well. Repayments of deposits should be examined to verify that proper vouchers in support of the amounts repaid are available; each repayment should also be checked either individually against the original receipt or against the total of the particular account in order to ensure that it is not in excess of the amount originally received and credited to Government.

(vi) Transfer, using the facility of transfer credit, of sums from the Consolidated Fund to deposit accounts for utilization in subsequent financial years violates basic budgeting principles. Audit should verify from the records maintained by the Deposit Section in the A&E Office the actual amounts transferred from Service Heads by transfer credit to each sub-head of the Deposit Account. These should agree with the amounts accounted for in the Register of Nil Payment Vouchers maintained in the Account Current Section. Appropriate audit comments on the irregular transfers should be included in the Audit Report.