Indian Civil Accounts Service

1. Principles, forms and standards of accounting: On behalf of the President of India, CGA lays down the principles of government accounting, prescribes the form in which accounts are to be maintained and formulates the procedure for recording and consolidating the accounts of Union and State Governments with the objective of encouraging standardization and transparency in government accounts.

2. Receipts and Payments: Indian Civil Accounts Organisation administers the receipts and payment functions for more than 90% Government of India’s budget through a nation-wide network of 28,000 branches of twenty-nine scheduled commercial banks who act as agents of Reserve Bank of India, which is the banker to the Union Government. The organisation performs accounting and reporting functions for the entire tax and non-tax receipts of the Union Government. The organisation is responsible for payment functions in civil ministries.

3. Pensions: The organisation is responsible for disbursement and accounting of pension payments to Government employees of all Civil Ministries as well as former Presidents/Vice-Presidents, retired Supreme Court/High Court Judges, Members of Parliament, All India Service Officers and Freedom Fighters. It is the central budgeting and accounting unit for civil pensions providing a single point interface between the government, banks and pensioners.

4. Accounting and Financial Reporting : CGA as head of the organisation is responsible for operating and overseeing the government’s central accounting and reporting system. CGA consolidates the monthly and annual accounts of the Union Government on the basis of accounts submitted by Ministries and Departments.

5. Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System: The Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS) is one of the recent initiatives of this organisation and CGA is responsible for its design and implementation. n. CPSMS has been envisaged as a comprehensive expenditure tracking system for central plans schemes that, apart from enhancing transparency and accountability, will have far reaching implications for public financial management in the country. The organisation has been able to leverage its core capability and experience in developing a web-enabled application that enables single point registration of implementing agencies, monitoring of fund flow from the central government to the implementing agencies, reconciliation with accounting data and generation of customized reports for the program managers on sources and use of funds.