Comptroller and Auditor General of India Should Focus on Outcome-Based Auditing: Ram Nath Kovind

New Delhi: Calling the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) a conscience keeper of the nation, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday urged the state auditor to provide outcome-based auditing and technology-driven foresights. “Audit is not an end in itself. It is a means to make governments work better. Given this, I believe we have to emphasise outcomes as a more meaningful measure of programme value than output,” he said at 29th Accountants General Conference on “Auditing and Accounting in a Digital Era” here.

Kovind said the CAG can deliberate on how it can identify, understand and measure outcomes to study the impact of programmes, and realign its strategies and techniques to report on performance appraisals in a way that facilitates measure of outcomes. “You are not a mere keeper of national accounts but a conscience keeper to the nation and a key partner in India’s progress,” he said and added that the CAG with the breadth of its audit engagements across various levels of governance has the unique opportunity to see where things are going wrong and why. Kovind said while the auditor has been providing valuable oversight on operations and giving recommendations to improve through its financial, compliance and performance audits, “it is time the institution thinks of giving insight and foresight as well”. (IANS)