Controller General of Accounts (CGA)

About Controller General of Accounts (CGA): 

• CGA, in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, is the Principal Accounting Adviser to the Government of India.
• CGA is responsible for establishing and managing a technically sound Management Accounting System and preparation & submission of the accounts of the Union Government. 
• The CGA is also responsible for exchequer control and internal audits for the central government.
• It was established in October 1975 to administer matters pertaining to the departmentalisation of the accounts of the Union. 
• Functions:
  • The Office of CGA prepare smoothly and annual analysis of expenditure, revenues, borrowings, and various fiscal indicators for the Union Government. 
  • It further formulates policies relating to general principles, forms, and procedures of accounting for the Central and State Governments.
  • It administers the process of payments, receipts, and accounting in the Central Civil Ministries/ Departments. 
  • Through its Internal Audit Units in the respective Ministries/Departments, it is responsible for maintaining the requisite technical standards of accounting in the departmentalized accounting offices and for monitoring the financial performance and effectiveness of various programs, schemes, and activities of the civil ministries.
  • It also administers banking arrangementsfor the disbursements of Government expenditures and the collection of government receipts and interacts with the Central Bank for the reconciliation of the cash balances of the Union Government.
  • CGA is also responsible for coordination and monitoring the progress of the submission of corrective/remedial action taken notes (ATNs)on the recommendations contained in the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) reports as well as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports through its web-based Audit Para Monitoring System (APMS).
  • It also looks after the pensions of Central government employees.

Q1: What is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)?

PAC is a committee of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the purpose of auditing the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India. They check that parliament exercises over the executive stems from the basic principle that parliament embodies the will of the people. It consists of not more than twenty-two members, fifteen elected by Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, and not more than seven members of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament.

Source: India’s FY24 fiscal deficit improves to 5.63% of GDP, narrower than government’s target of 5.8%