Para 4.2.9 — MSO (Audit)
Original Rule Text
4.2.9 As indicated in paragraph 4.2.5, the auditing responsibilities in respect of the monthly accounts and the supporting documents are shared by the Senior Auditor/Auditor and the Assistant Audit Officer/Section Officer in charge of the Central Audit Party. Besides, the vouchers received with the monthly accounts and audited by the Senior Auditor/Auditor should also be reviewed to the extent prescribed by the Assistant Audit Officer/Section Officer in charge of the party. During his audit and review, the Assistant Audit Officer/Section Officer should ensure that the requirements of Audit against Propriety and of Efficiency Audit as explained in Section-II, Chapter-2 (‘Audit of Expenditure’) have been kept in view and that the Divisional Accountants have attended to their auditing and accounting responsibilities duties satisfactorily. The following points should receive his personal attention:
(i) All transactions that should have been treated as pertaining to a contract have been so treated and the rules have not been disregarded or the interests of Government have not been ignored in enforcing contracts, requiring action on the part of the Audit Office. The financial rules regulating the payment of advances to contractors and issue of materials to them have been borne in mind. In the case of final bills, it should be particularly seen that the date of actual completion of the work has been checked with that stipulated (Column 5 of Part-II of the Works Register).
(ii) The spirit of the above instructions has been observed generally in the audit of vouchers, especially contractors' bills relating to other works and services.
(iii) Whenever payments are made to contractors for items of work involving utilization of materials or stores for which secured advances had been disbursed in terms of Article 9 (32) of the Account Code, Volume-III, the value of such materials/stores used in the work has been recovered simultaneously from the contractors in accordance with the rules.
(iv) The method stated to have been employed for estimating the value of work done in running account bills for works executed on lump sum contracts is prima facie not opened to objection.
What This Means
The AAO/Section Officer shares auditing responsibilities with the Senior Auditor/Auditor for monthly accounts and supporting documents. Beyond his own audit tasks, the AAO/Section Officer must also review a prescribed percentage of vouchers audited by the auditor. During this audit and review, the officer must ensure propriety audit and efficiency audit requirements are met, and that Divisional Accountants are fulfilling their duties. Specific personal attention points include verifying contract compliance, checking contractor advance rules, ensuring recoveries against secured advances, and reviewing running account bills for lump-sum contracts.
This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.
Key Points
- 1AAO/Section Officer shares audit responsibilities and reviews the auditor's work
- 2Voucher review to a prescribed extent is mandatory
- 3Propriety audit and efficiency audit requirements must be kept in view
- 4Must verify that Divisional Accountants are performing their duties properly
- 5Personal attention needed for contract compliance, advance recoveries, and final bill checks
- 6For final bills, completion date must be checked against stipulated date in Works Register Part II
Practical Example
The Section Officer reviews contractor bills audited by his Senior Auditor. He notices a final bill for a building contract and specifically checks that the actual completion date matches what is recorded in Column 5 of Part II of the Works Register. He also finds that a running account bill shows Rs 8 lakh paid for materials, but the secured advance register shows Rs 3 lakh in advance outstanding against the same materials — he verifies that the Rs 3 lakh recovery has been made from this bill. He notes that the Divisional Accountant had missed this recovery, indicating a lapse in preliminary checks.
This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is propriety audit in works context?▼
What are secured advances and why must recoveries be watched?▼
Why is the completion date in final bills important?▼
This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.