Make govt's annual accounts more user-friendly: Sitharaman to civil accounts officers

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday asked civil accounts services officials to work towards making the government's annual accounts more approachable and user-friendly.

Addressing the 49th Civil Accounts Day event here, Sitharaman lauded the Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) officers, led by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) for the "silent technological revolution" in which states are finding a lot more ease of operation and ease of getting their government business done by adopting the public financial management system (PFMS).

"I would also like you to examine, in consultation with the CAG, whether it would be possible to make the annual accounts more approachable and user-friendly and allow citizens to analyse easily and generate customisable and simpler reports," Sitharaman said.

She said that since a lot of digital integration has already taken place with the states, more research can be carried out based on the data set available with the CGA. "If you're able to make the report a lot more user-friendly, that itself can generate a lot of interest in the work that you do," the Minister said.

Sitharaman also asked both the Expenditure Department and the CGA to ensure that the SNA Sparsh is smoothly rolled out for all schemes in the upcoming financial year.

"CGA should handhold states in seamless onboarding and transition from whichever (platform) they have to the SNA Sparsh and convince them about the benefits of this reform and quick adaptation," she said.

PFMS, which is developed and implemented by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) under the Department of Expenditure, provides an IT platform and ensures end-to-end digital payments, collection of receipts, accounting. In ensures effective cash management in the Central Government system through 'Just in time' transfer of funds and complete tracking of realisation of funds from its release to its credit into the bank account of intended beneficiaries.

The SNA module ensures better monitoring of availability and utilisation of funds released to states under centrally sponsored schemes (CSS). SNA SPARSH is a system which ensures quick release of funds to states for CSS.

The SNA module currently includes 141 CSS, 4,972 state-linked schemes, and more than 15 lakh agencies. Over Rs 13.60 lakh crore has been released by the Centre through the SNA module.

Sitharaman also nudged the Civil Accounts Officers to create more public awareness so that people appreciate that the taxpayers' money is being utilised efficiently.

"Every rupee is taken seriously and therefore some public engagements to make people understand that this is the most critical job for the finances of the country, not just for the government of India," the minister said.