WEEKLY DIARY

WEEK 1

ABHINAV CHOUDHARY
OFFICER TRAINEE, IAAS 2020
 Weekly Diary

Week Number: Week No. 01/16 ( From December 20, 2021 to 24 December , 2021)

Date of Submission: December 24, 2018

Name of the Counsellor: Mr. Naveen Singhvi , Director NAAA

Submitted by: Abhinav Choudhary (IA&AS Officer Trainee, 2020 Batch)

Gist of learning :

1) Interaction with the group officers and their experiences

2) Audit planning process: Coordination cell
3) Restructuring of the department based on cluster approach
4) Call on to various heads of department
5) Seniors at the office are a treasure trove of knowledge and experience at the office

Interaction with group officers and their experiences

It is the year end and Christmas is around the corner, as a result a couple of group officers and the senior staff
were on leave. However, the structured way of training continued at the Audit I office at Mumbai. We were sent
a pick up vehicle at the airport and our stay arrangement at the RTI, Mumbai was perfectly thought off.
Moreover, after reaching the office a well-planned training schedule was handed over to us by the group officer
in charge. It reflects the seriousness and continued focus on the training of the probationers as we saw at NAAA.
It also instils a sense of belongingness among the probationers towards the department.
There was a general sense of satisfaction visible in our interaction with the group officers and the Sr. AOs. It
gave us a sense of relief on what lies ahead for us in the department. The group officers indicated that things are
not working as we read in theory at NAAA but they were enthusiastic in enlisting our support in making things
better and asked us to come up with ideas for the same.

Audit Planning Process

Our first attachment was with AMG I and the coordination cell of the office. The coordination cell was involved
in consolidation of the audit plan of the audit office for the entire year. The cell coordinates with various AMGs
for preparation of their respective audit plans for approval by the Pr. AG as well as headquarters.
We learned that the audit plan is based on the consideration of 2 Ms and 2 Cs i.e. Manpower, Man-days ,
Committed audits and compliance audits. The total strength of Sr AO, AAOs is divided between those available
for field and those needed at headquarter. Local audit parties (LAPs) are formed from those available for field
consisting of a Sr AO and 2 AAOs.

Audits

Committed Audits Compliance Audit

Apex, Audit and

Performance
Financial Audit Implementing
Audit
Units

Autonomous State ,Central and

bodies,EAP,PSUs Cross Cutting PA
The audits to be conducted are divided into two:
1) Committed audits: These are audits which are to be conducted compulsorily. It include financial audit
of autonomous bodies and PSUs. As well as verification of statement of expenditure of externally aided
projects. It also include Performance audits (PA) which includes:
a. State PA
b. Central PA
c. Cross cutting PA which involve more than one state

2) Compliance Audits based on compliance audit guidelines issued by the CAG. The entities are divided
into Apex, Audit and Implementing units. Priority is given to apex units and other units are selected on
the basis of Expenditure, duration since last audit done, compliant letters, newspaper articles etc.

Available man-days will be first utilized for committed audits. Residual number of man-days will be utilized for
Compliance Audit.

Restructuring of the department based on cluster approach

The recent restructuring of the department was explained in detail by Sr.AO Gouri Iyer Ma’am. Earlier, the
Maharashtra Audit office was divided based on geographical cum functional distribution among three audit
offices. After restructuring, the audit was reorganised based on cluster approach at three levels. The Mumbai
audit office took up Level 1 clusters , Nagpur office took level 2 which had majority of the PSUs as well as
finance attest audit function and level 3 clusters were divided equally between the two offices.

Figure 1 Various clusters of audit function

Call on to various heads of department
We gave a formal call on to Heads of the department based in Mumbai which include :
1) C M Sane, Director General of Audit ( Commercial )
2) Dhiren Mathur, Director General of Audit ( Western Railway)
3) K P Yadaw, Director General of Audit ( Central )
4) P V Hari Krishna, Pr. Director of Audit ( Shipping )
5) Abdul Rauf, Director General ( RTI )
We were warmly received by the HODs and we understood from them, the roles and responsibilities of their
respective offices.

Seniors at the office are a treasure trove of knowledge and experience at the office

We often heard that there is a lot to learn from the seniors at the office specially in the early years of one’s
career. We got a glimpse of it when we interacted with Group officers Santosh Khedkar sir and Madhusudan
Nair sir. Both rose up the hierarchy in the department through more than 2 decades of service. Madhusudan sir
with more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector has vast knowledge and experience. He was part of
the CAG’s audit of Reliance’s KG basin block and was also involved in the setting up of the CAG office at
Kualalumpur. Mrs Gowri Parmeswaran Iyer, Sr AO , is another point contact for any information in the office
specially the audit planning process.