Para 7.1.12 — Vigorous and timely pursuit of audit objections is

7.1.12 Intelligent, prompt and vigorous pursuance of objections and timely reporting of important irregularities to Government are essential in order to ensure that the Audit Reports required to be submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General serve their intended purpose and Government derives their full value. The Accountant General may take the following steps to pursue the outstanding objections to their logical conclusion:

(i) Abstracts of outstanding objections may be prepared in such form as decided in consultation with the Finance Ministry or Department and submitted to Government or to any other authority specified on such dates as may be mutually agreed to. When so required by Government, these abstracts may be accompanied by suitable extracts of the more important of the outstanding objections relating to different departments..

(ii) With a view to ensuring prompt settlement and clearance of audit objections by the executive, Government should be requested to

(a) prescribe a time schedule for furnishing replies to audit notes/ objections and inspection reports;

(b) ensure that departments maintain a Register of Audit Objections to be reviewed by them every month; and

(c) designate a senior officer in each ministry and department to be responsible for ensuring prompt attention to audit objections.

(iii) Half-yearly lists of inspection reports and objections outstanding for over six months or one year should be sent to the ministries and departments concerned to enable them to have an idea of the pendency and to expedite their settlement.

Note: The half-yearly lists intended for the Ministry of Finance should also include the paragraphs outstanding in the inspection reports on the transactions in public sector banks and public debt offices.

(iv) Each Ministry and Department should be requested to prescribe schedules and targets for clearance of the outstandings. They should also be requested to ensure that these are adhered to and to inform Audit, every six months, of the progress of settlement.

(v) Group Officers should periodically discuss the outstanding objections with the Heads of Departments concerned. Items not settled at their level should be discussed between the Accountant General and Secretaries to Government concerned.

(vi) Inspection reports and objections which could not be settled through discussions at lower levels should be referred to Audit Committees, each consisting of the Secretary to Government or Head of the Department concerned and sufficiently senior representatives of the Accountant General and the Finance Ministry/Department, to decide upon the further course of action to be taken for their settlement. Where such Committees do not exist and the progress of settlement of objections is not satisfactory, the Government should be persuaded to constitute them.

(vii) In the case of Government Companies and Corporations, half yearly reports in respect of each public undertaking indicating the status of objections pending settlement as on 30th September and 31st March should be furnished to the administrative ministry concerned with the request that the undertakings concerned may be advised to take measures for their settlement. Audit Arrears Committees consisting of sufficiently senior officials such as the General Manager (Finance) of the undertaking and the Group Officer representing Audit should be constituted for each undertaking having a large number of objections outstanding for long periods. Minutes of the meetings of these Committees should be recorded and reviewed in the subsequent meetings.

(viii) In the course of local audit/inspection, local audit parties should verify whether the procedures and systems prescribed for prompt settlement of audit objections are being strictly observed by the administrative authorities and specifically comment on this aspect in their inspection reports. In States where Standing Guard Files on the lines introduced by the Central Ministry of Finance are not maintained, the Accountant General may persuade the Government concerned to introduce such Guard Files for the guidance of administrative authorities.

(ix) In order to make an impact on the administration and to prevent accumulation of unsettled inspection reports and audit objections, better rapport between Audit and the Government should be established emphasising that former as an aid to the latter. Besides effective liaison should also be maintained between the Accountants General and the Chief Secretaries and Finance Secretaries. The assistance of the internal audit organisations in the ministries and departments could also be utilised with advantage.

# Review of objections outstanding for more than three years

What This Means

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.

Key Points

• 1Prompt and vigorous pursuit of objections ensures Audit Reports serve their purpose
• 2AG should send abstracts of outstanding objections to Government periodically
• 3Departments should maintain objection registers reviewed monthly
• 4Each Ministry should designate a senior officer for audit objection clearance
• 5Half-yearly pending lists should be sent for objections outstanding over 6 months or 1 year
• 6Audit Committees with Secretary + AG + Finance representatives should be constituted
• 7Local audit parties must verify compliance with objection settlement procedures

Practical Example

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.

Frequently Asked Questions

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.