Important FAQ related to Accountant- CGA

(Compiled and Edited by Avnish and Answered by Shiv Charan Vats)

Q.1. Avnish: Hi @Royalvats! How good is the promotion for Accountant in CGA? What might be
the highest designation they could reach under the current scenario?
A. @Royalvats: In the CGA Cadre, after 6 month of service you have to pass departmental
confirmatory exam. After that you will get increment and get promotion as senior accountant.
Department confirmatory exam is not tough. Most students qualify in first attempt. After 3
years of service, you will be automatically promoted as senior accountant in 4200 grade pay.
After 3 years of service, you will also be eligible for AAO (Civil) exam for AAO (Assistant
Accounts Officer) promotion. There are total 8 papers in AAO (Civil) exams. Minimum qualifying
percentage is 50 percent in each paper. In the exam if you get 50 % marks (for SC & ST 45%) and
more than that paper will be skipped next time. There are total 6 attempts. Most students, who
have qualified CGL, clear this exam in 1st or 2nd attempt. The pattern of AAO (Civil) Exam has
been changed and questions will be of objective type from this year.
In the cadre of CGA, there is no merit list for promotion. If you have qualified all the papers,
then you will get automatically promoted as AAO. There is no waiting list for promotion as AAO.
Grade pay of AAO is 4800. After 4 year of service as AAO, you will get 5400 grade pay in level 9.
In the CAG cadre AO and Sr. AO post has been merged as Sr. AO. Shortly same will be merged
here in CGA Cadre. In CAG cadre, if you did not qualify SAS exam then you will be promoted as
Accounts manager in 4600 grade pay after 5 year service. Same will be done shortly in CGA
cadre (Already in process).
After being promoted to AAO, You will be promoted as AO after approx. 10 years of service.
After that you will be promoted as Sr. AO, 2 years service in AO. But AO will merge with Sr. AO
and promotion will be as Sr. AO from AAO directly.

Q.2. Harry: Why do they take department confirmatory exam after six month if they don't
promote. Can u explain benefits of this exam which held after six month?
A. @RoyalVats: Basically without qualifying department confirmatory exam, which held after
six months of your joining, you will not get your first increment. If you don't qualify exam in 3
years, you will be demoted to UDC.
But don't take tension. Generally this doesn't happen; most of the people qualify it in first
attempt. If you qualify this exam after 2 years of service, then you will get due increment after
that but no arrear will be paid. But it is very rare.

Answered by Shiv Charan Vats (@RoyalVats), Senior Accountant CGA, CGL 2014
Compiled and Edited by Avnish Kumar (@iAvnish) Page 1
 Important FAQ related to Accountant- CGA

Note: There is requirement of 3 years service to get promotion. You will be promoted after
that. You will get only increment and Sr. Accountant promotion. This promotion is basically
from 1 Jan of Year. If in CGL batch any student had 3 years of service then all his seniors will be
promoted if they had less than 3 years of service. I was promoted after 2 year 4 month of
service to senior accountant because one of our friends had 3 years of service and junior to us
(Here Junior means Rank-wise junior, lower rank than you in CGL Exam) in CGL batch. Mostly
my friend also promoted after 2 years of service.

Q.3. Pawan: @Royalvats Brother, Please tell us something about the process of Posting,
Promotion, and Mutual Transfer?
A. @RoyalVats: Here cadre is ministry not state. Mostly 90 percent of posting are in Delhi.
Some department take choice for posting. But mostly it doesn’t take. Posting here is easy, not
so hard as compared to other cadre.
You can easily get posting. If there is post vacant in your home state, you may also get posted
there. If ministry is same, then transfer is easily from one department to other. But for inter
ministry transfer, it takes some time.
I had already explained about promotion. If you are promoted as AAO before 30 years of age,
you might be promoted as ICAS Officer. Cadre restructuring is in process, Soon good news will
come. In CGA cadre, promotion in the initial stage/period is very fast but at later stage it comes
stagnant.
Mutual transfer is easy w.r.t other cadre. But there is boundation time for posting for upper
post, like for AAO maximum 4 years allowed.

Q.4. Pratik: If I don’t get desired posting on joining, then is there any criterion of minimum
length of service before applying for transfer?
A. @RoyalVats: No criterion for that. Whenever you want to go, you can apply. In this cadre,
you don’t lose your seniority after transfer.

Q.5. Saurav: Is this true that, In CGA cadre also they are creating Assistant supervisor post
under 4600 grade pay like CAG cadre?
A. @RoyalVats: Yes already in process. Soon it will take position. But you should focus on AAO,
not much hard. If you can qualify CGL exam then you can also pass AAO (Civil) exam.

Answered by Shiv Charan Vats (@RoyalVats), Senior Accountant CGA, CGL 2014
Compiled and Edited by Avnish Kumar (@iAvnish) Page 2
 Important FAQ related to Accountant- CGA

Q.6. Pratik: When and how much can we take LWP- leave without pay in CGA?
A. @RoyalVats: I would advise you not to take LWP. It won’t be easy for you to get other job
easily, better focus on this Job. CGA cadre is good. I have not taken any earned leave in my
service from last 4 year. Initially I took some earned leave.

Q.7. LB: How much time does it take to reach the post of A.O after 5400 grade pay (Level-9)?
A.O comes under level-9 or level 10?
A. @RoyalVats: A.O is level-9 post, soon it will be discontinued after cadre restructuring. After 4
year of service as AAO, you will get 5400 grade pay in level 9. You will be directly promoted to
Sr. AO (Level-10) after AAO. Approximately, you need to have 10 years of services as AAO to
reach Sr. AO (It might be 7-8 years also, depends on time).

Q.8. Prem: Can you explain the work profile means what type of work we will be doing as CGA
Accountant?
A. @RoyalVats: Normally Accounting work. No public dealing. You will be posted in any pay and
account office (PAO) of any central govt department. Departments submit their expenditure
bill/receipt to concerned pay and accounts office to get passed. In PAO Office, you can pass that
bill after scrutiny or return. Apart from that, you have to maintain accounts of department and
some time have to do Internet audit of departments.

Q.9. Can you please tell us about workload and scope of further preparations?
A. @RoyalVats: This depends on you and your senior officer and also office where you are post.
There is no public dealing. Departments will value you because financial matter is in your
hands. Generally, 2-3 hours routine work only. You will be allotted a specific work, which only
you have to complete, No other person will give hands to complete it. If you take a leave, you
have to complete that work later after coming back. Do complete your work, after that you can
study. Overall, Very good scope of further preparations.

Q.10. Jagan: Are there any chances of them asking state preference from us first (this time) and
then department allocation?
A. @RoyalVats: Many friends had queried me about state preference. I had already cleared that
there is no state preference in CGA cadre. Here preference is given on ministry basis. Sometime
CGA take preference, sometimes it does not take. After department allocation, the respective

Answered by Shiv Charan Vats (@RoyalVats), Senior Accountant CGA, CGL 2014
Compiled and Edited by Avnish Kumar (@iAvnish) Page 3
 Important FAQ related to Accountant- CGA

CCA or Cadre Controlling Authority of that department send Offer of Appointment to those
candidates, whose dossiers they got from O/o CGA. Ministry/Department may/may not give
you three-state preference or more, totally depends on vacancy and situation there. After
getting all the required documents (Attestation form, Medical Certificate, Character Certificate
and Acceptance of Offer of Appointment, Station Preference if any etc.), CCA Office will send
you joining letter with reporting date and address (Station allotted). Sr. AO (Admin) deals all
these things. When you reach the allotted station office, you may talk to Sr. AO (Admin) for
your preference and request them for posting near you home state or nearest place. If there
are any vacancies, Sr. AO (Admin) will surely give your posting there. This is not like other cadre.
You only have to check nearest office of your allotted ministry and ask them if there are any
vacancies. (During Joining, they will ask you from where you belong and where do you want to
get posted.)

Q.11. DA: Can we get preferred location (like Delhi, NCR etc.) for posting (compulsory transfer)
after being promoted to AAO?
A. @RoyalVats: Three preferences are given for posting. And before that vacancy position is
also clarified and uploaded on website. As per AAO (Civil) Exam Rank, you can easily get your
preferred posting.

Q.12. DA: It seems, CGA Accountant is better than any other 4600 grade pay posts through CGL,
because we can reach 4800 grade pay in 3 years, that too in Delhi. Am I right?
A. @RoyalVats: Actually, Initial promotions are good here in CGA but not at later stage. But
things are changing, hoping for the best. Good thing about CSS is that, even if departmental
exams are not held due to some reasons for some years, you will get promotion considering the
eligible year after passing the exams (held later). This is not with CGA cadre. Every job has pros
and cons. You should compare only if you have other option. In the present situation, In CGA
cadre you can reach maximum 5400 grade pay (6600 grade pay may be), but in other cadre you
can reach 8700 grade pay. Previously, CSS and Accountant had same grade pay but CSS had
upgraded it but CGA cadre has not been restructured.

Q.13. DA: Can you tell me aboul the process step-by-step related to joining of CGA Accountant?
A. @iAvnish (with info from seniors): First of all dossiers of all the selected Accountant will be
sent to O/o CGA from al regional offices of SSC. If you are lagging in any documentation your
dossier will not be forwarded, and a status of ‘pending’ will be displayed in front of your name
in the list of nomination status uploaded by regional offices. If everything is right, you have no

Answered by Shiv Charan Vats (@RoyalVats), Senior Accountant CGA, CGL 2014
Compiled and Edited by Avnish Kumar (@iAvnish) Page 4
 Important FAQ related to Accountant- CGA

more relation with the SSC. Now you are the responsibility of CGA. O/o CGA will properly
scrutinize all the dossiers sent to them and after that concerned allocating authority will decide
the allocation policy for department allocation. Roughly around 25-30 days, after getting all the
dossiers, O/o CGA will distribute/sent the dossiers to departments based on the policy made.
You will get to know about your department from the uploaded allocation letter on CGA
website (https:/cga.nic.in). After that concerned department/ministry will send an attestation
form (can ask for station preference too) and to your email id and mentioned address by post
with character certificate (to be signed by Gazetted Officer) and medical certificate (to get from
your district hospital signed by Civil Surgeon/CMO). You have to submit it within 21 days to the
concerned office. After all the pre-appointment formalities and comprehensive check of all the
particulars and documents of the candidates, concerned department will send offer of
appointment to the candidates. You will be given 15 days to report to the concerned allocated
station PAO office with all your credentials. Offer of appointment would lapse automatically
after expiry of six months from the date of its issue. All the joining formalities regarding
appointment letter, reminders, and correspondence for extension of time, should be
completed within six months from date of issue of offer of appointment.
For police verification, they will send PVR to the address mentioned by you in the attestation
form (They will ask you for the places you have resided in last five years). This PVR will be
dispatched to the DM office of the concerned district and they will sent it to the SP office and
thereafter it will be sent to concerned police station from there they will verify your conduct,
whether you have any criminal allegations or not. After verification, they will send it to the SP
office and through the same mode it will be delivered to the concerned authority from where it
was sent. (In case of two or three places you have resided in last five years, PVR will be sent to
all the places, so if not necessary try to mention just only one place).

Q.14. DA: What is the work profile of an Accountant selected through CGA? How is the working
environment?
A. @iAvnish (with feedback from seniors): An Accountant is the auditor of Accounts. The office
is headed by Chief Controller of Accounts (CCA) and in his office, we all are appointed. He is
assisted by the Controller of Accounts and then the Senior Accounts Officer (Sr. AO). The nature
of the job is mainly clerical type with intense use computer excel and ms office. Working
condition is very good in offices under CGA (air-conditioned, well maintained). No Public
Dealing. No leave problems as banks job. Saturday and Sunday Off. 10 to 5 Job.

Telegram Link for CGA Accountant related updates: t.me/CGAAccountant2018 (Channel)

Answered by Shiv Charan Vats (@RoyalVats), Senior Accountant CGA, CGL 2014
Compiled and Edited by Avnish Kumar (@iAvnish) Page 5