The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has decided to change the focus of auditing government expenditure. Instead of monitoring just the financial transactions of ministries and government departments at the Centre and states, the CAG will also monitor each scheme announced by the government, how each rupee spent by the government reaches the end user and the results that it shows. The idea is not to judge the success of any scheme based on how much money was provided for it by the government, but by the end result of the money spent. With this single stroke, the CAG will now also monitor money handed out to various NGOs under government schemes, when they audit all schemes run by the government for health, education or now, even employment. So far, NGOs have been outside the purview of the CAG unless they are entrusted with 75 per cent of the outlay of a scheme.Comptroller and Auditor General of India V.N. Kaul said: ‘‘Our objective is to move to more performance audit of public money being spent rather than just regularity audit of government’s financial transactions. The idea is also to ascertain the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government schemes.’’The CAG has drafted a new Bible of ‘‘Performance Auditing Guidelines’’, which will form the basis of doing relevant auditing on public money spent by the government in the name of schemes for irrigation, employment, rural development, health and education. While auditing the government’s transactions, auditors will not just focus on whether things are been done right, but also on whether the right things are being done.
