Office of the Director General of Audit, Central, Kolkata- A brief overview
Introductory
This Office was formed on 1st of January, 1968 as Office of the Accountant General (Central) after division of auditing and accounting functions of the then Office of the Accountant General (Bengal). Having undergone different stages of upgradation, this Office has now attained its present status and functioning as Office of the Director General of Audit,Central,Kolkata with effect from 05.12.2011.
This Office has two Branch Offices. The first Branch Office is at Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (ANI). Headed by a Director, it is entrusted with the audit and accounting of the transaction of the Central and Union Territory Government establishments in the ANI and Finance and Appropriation Accounts of the ANI Administration. The Branch Office is an important contributor to the separate audit report for Union Territories without legislatures, which are being published since the year 2015.
The second Branch Office was established at Guwahati, Assam during the year 2012, as a part of the restructuring exercise undertaken in the Department which led to extension of audit jurisdiction of this Office to the north-eastern States. Headed by a Director (presently additional charge), this Branch Office is responsible for audit of Central Revenue units located in the north-eastern States and Central Expenditure units located in the State of Assam.
At the Main Office, Kolkata, this Office has two receipt audit wings for audit of direct and indirect taxes and one expenditure audit wing (Inspection Wing) for audit of Central civil units and autonomous bodies.
As a part of bilateral agreement between the Governments of India and the Royal Government of Bhutan, this Office is doing audit of India assisted Hydroelectric Power Projects in Bhutan.
Profile and achievements of receipt audit Wings
This Office has been consistent in contributing substantially to the Compliance and Performance Audit Reports/Reviews and, accordingly, earned appreciation from the Headquarters Office and occupies a place of pride within the Department. The profile & achievements of different receipt audit Wings are summarized below.
Revenue Audit Direct Tax Wing
Under the supervision of two Directors (RADT I & II), the RADT Wing of this Office is responsible for audit of units pertaining to the Income Tax Department in the West Bengal, Sikkim and ANI.
The RADT Wing has under its audit jurisdiction more than 963 auditable units under 92 Commissioners of Income Tax located in West Bengal, ANI and North East States having human resources comprising 217 officers and staff members.
During the last ten years (2007-08 to 2016-17), the RADT wing had made significant contributions to the Audit Reports relating to Compliance audit published by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (as good as 576 major observations having money value of ₹1779.42 crore).
During the last five years (2011-12 to 2016-17), the Direct Tax Wing has made important contribution towards fourteen All India Performance Audits conducted on various aspects of Income Tax Act/Rules covering different sectors like Private Hospitals, Nursing homes etc., Payment of tax certain companies under section 115JB of the Income Tax Act, 1961, Allowance of deduction in Infrastructure Development (under section 80IA of the Income Tax Act, 1961). The Audit Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on these performance audits contained 379 paragraphs (with tax effect ₹609.34 crore) contributed by this wing.
Moreover, this wing has also contributed fifty four major observations (with tax effect of ₹5.86 crore) in the Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India relating to four Subject Specific Compliance Audit (Theme based audit) during this period. The RADT wing of this office has also taken a leading role in conducting two Subject Specific Compliance Audit (Theme based audit) and one Performance audit during 2014-2017.
During the period 2008-2014, based on the recommendations contained in several Performance Audit Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Government of India has time to time amended provisions of the Income Tax Act.
During the period 2010-11 to 2016-17, an additional revenue of ₹93.59 crore had been generated by the the Department of Revenue based on the acceptance of the audit observations and taking measures for recovery from different assessees.
Revenue Audit Indirect Tax Wing
The Indirect Tax Audit Wing (RAINDT) is headed by a Director and has two Sections, namely Central Excise Revenue Audit (CERA) and Customs Receipt Audit Department (CRAD).
Central Excise Revenue Audit (CERA):
The CERA Wing has under its audit jurisdiction more than 172 auditable units under 25 Central Excise and Service Tax Executive Commissionerate located in West Bengal and North East Regions with human resources comprising 94 officers and staff members.
During the last ten years (2007-08 to 2016-17), this wing has significant contribution to Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on compliance issues having 300 major observations (with money value of ₹903.74 crore).
During the same period, the CERA Wing has made significant contribution towards nineteen All India Performance Audits conducted on various aspects of Central Excise Act and Service Tax Rules. The Audit Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on these performance audits contained 231 major observations (with money value of ₹1127.78 crore) contributed by this wing.This wing also contributed 120 major observations (with money value of ₹575.41 crore) in fourteen Audit Report relating to Subject Specific Compliance Audit during 2013-14 to 2016-17.
During the period 2007-08 to 2016-17, an additional revenue of ₹55.73 crore had been generated by the Department of Revenue based on the acceptance of the audit observations and taking measures for recovery from different assessees.
Customs Receipt Audit Department (CRAD)
The CRAD Wing has under its audit jurisdiction more than 60 auditable units under 10 Commissioner/Directorates located in West Bengal and North East Regions with human resources comprising 44 officers and staff members.
In 2013-14 and 2014-15, this wing, on behalf of all nine field offices under the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, conducted two system based pan India audits on DGFT-EDI System and Customs ICES 1.5 System and raised observations involving money value of ₹985.19 crore and ₹507.44 crore respectively.
During the last ten years (2007-08 to 2016-17) the Wing has made significant contribution to the Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Compliance audit with 171 major observations (having money value of ₹234.94 crore).
During the last five years (2011-12 to 2016-17), this Wing has made important contribution towards nine All India Performance Audits conducted on various aspects of Customs Act, Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act. The Audit Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on these performance audits contained observations having money value of ₹1060.91 crore contributed by this wing.
This wing also contributed some major observations (with money value of ₹947.05 crore) in twelve Subject Specific Compliance Audit during 2013-14 to 2016-17.
During the period 2007-08 to 2016-17, an additional revenue of ₹28.65 crore had been generated by the the Department of Revenue based on the acceptance of the audit observations and taking measures for recovery from different assessees.
Way Ahead......
Goods and Services Tax Audit
The indirect tax system has undergone change from July 1, 2017 by implementing a new tax system called Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is being seen as the biggest reform in taxation in this country. Auditing GST poses new kind of challenges and thereof this Office is gearing itself to acquire the requisite skill sets to come up to the expectations of the department and other stakeholders and become part of the historical transition to GST era.
The GST Cell constituted in this office is undertaking field studies (by interaction with the field formations of the auditee organisation as well as with the other audit offices) to formulate the audit approaches in the new system of taxation. Three Study Reports (Study Report-I, II & III) and some Audit Checklists regarding GST have been issued and submitted to the Headquarters.
Moreover, five officials from this office have been selected by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to conduct the Information Technology Audit on GSTN during the last quarter of 2017-18.
Best practices and initiatives
Communicating through email: Since 2012-13, this Office has started sending Orders/OMs/Circulars etc. through email to all the staff members, including the retired ones, by discontinuing circulation through hard copies.
Administration Wizard Application: Several modules have been added to the Administration Wizard Application for the benefit of staff members through which they can track status of their various claims, income tax details etc.
Digitisation of service books: During the year 2014-15, this Office undertook the exercise of getting all the ‘Service Books’ scanned for preservation in digital format in fire-proof safe.
Providing Service book copy as souvenir to retiring official: This Office has started the practice of providing photocopy and scanned copy (in Compact Disc) of Service Book to the retiring officials.
Computerized system for lodging IT related complaints: This Office has developed a computerized system for lodging IT related complaints, through which the users can lodge computer related complaints from their computers itself.
Data Analytics: As per the instruction of Headquarters Office, a Data Analytic Group has been formed in this office to perform data analysis for audit planning and conduct of audit.
System automation in RADT Wing: Since implementation of‘System Automation Initiative’ (SAI) in the RADT wing in October 2017, the work of audit starting from audit programming to vetting and issue of LARs are being done successfully through the system.
Turning 50
This Office has completed fifty years of its formation and celebrations were held on 1st of January 2018 to commemorate the occasion.
Gaining impetus from the highly motivated working environment, this Office has been able to establish itself as one of the leading receipt audit offices in Eastern India. As a bear testimony of the fact, a significant number of officials of this Office have earned international assignments for themselves, which is indicative of their professional calibre and recognition thereof. About 40 serving and retired officials of this Office have represented the IA&AD in prestigious assignments like ‘Audit of the United Nations’, posting abroad in ‘India Audit Offices’ and deputation to International Organizations.
During the golden journey, the officers and staff of the office remained faithful to the core values of Independence, Objectivity, Integrity, Reliability, Continued professional excellence, Transparency and have followed the prescribed Auditing Standards and best practices. Thus, the celebration was not only a time to reminiscence of the golden past but also to reassure everybody that this office will continue to strive for incremental qualitative improvement in all spheres of our work.
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From the Editor's Desk
The eighth issue of the Journal of Government Audit and Accounts is on the theme of “Central Receipt Audit”...
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the articles by various authors are their own and do not in any way represent or reflect the official policy of Indian Audit and Accounts Department.
