DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF AUDIT’

• Tamil Nadu is the first State to create the role of Director-General of Audit, and has hired an officer from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service on deputation for the purpose, Finance Secretary N. Muruganandam said on Wednesday.
• The officer’s responsibility would be to strengthen and streamline the functioning of internal audit departments so that they perform their functions professionally, he said. He was speaking at a conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors–Madras Chapter on ‘Internal Audit’s Changing Landscape in the World of Fraud and Unknown’. The event was held in collaboration with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners-Chennai Chapter.
• He said the State government recognised the importance of internal audits, and had proper control mechanisms so that it could improve the efficiency of expenditure. He pointed out that internal audit departments had been operating under the very department they were supposed to audit, and there was no independence.

Budget announcement

• Finance Minister PalanivelThiagaRajan had, in his first Budget speech, announced that internal audit departments will be brought under the control of the Finance Department so that they were independent, he recalled.
• Noting that the audit function of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department had been brought under the Finance Department, he said one by one, all internal audit functions of other departments would be brought under it.
• He said a committee appointed by the State government to reform internal audit departments had submitted its report. “They have given their recommendations, and the government will implement them,” he added.
• He noted that while the State produced the highest number of graduates, they were not industry-ready. The ‘Naan Mudhalvan’ scheme was aimed at bridging the gap by equipping students with industry-relevant skills.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB