The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 27th Conference of Accountants General on the theme ‘Promoting Good Governance and Accountability through Public Audit’ today (October 27, 2014) in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that audit is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. While audit findings are a barometer of good governance, their utility is manifested only when all the stakeholders, particularly the Executive, Legislature and citizens believe in the credibility of these findings and use them for enhancing the quality of governance. This casts a great responsibility on the public auditor to conduct audit professionally with utmost diligence and independence, and to report in a fair and balanced manner. Both the public auditor and the audited entity have to recognize that the objective of audit is ultimately to improve the implementation of governance strategies. Towards this end, audit should be considered a tool for improvement.
The President said that the platforms used for delivery of public service influences the conduct of audit. As ‘Digital India’ becomes the backbone of government functioning, it calls for transformation in the traditional methods of audit. The leverage that e-governance can provide for improving efficiency, cost and coverage of audit have to be utilized well by revisiting your standard operating procedures. He stated that we must remember that as watchdogs of national public finances, the institution of CAG has a positive and pre-eminent role in accelerating national development.