Enhancing Maturity of Accounts of Local bodies to get Priority: K Sanjay Murthy
NEW DELHI, MARCH 03, 2026l Assessing asset management and operational efficiencies of local governments largely depends on the maturity of their accounts and their preparation. This was stated by K Sanjay Murthy, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, while addressing the National Conference of State Secretaries to strengthen Accountability and Transparency in Local Governments here yesterday.
He said that the, “ Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of India, has done significant work in bringing transparency and visibility to the preparation of accounts in the city finance portal where all these accounts of all these local bodies are located. Building upon that, I think the priority of the CAG will be to add value to the maturity of these accounts that have been prepared, and as a pilot, we have analysed some 700 accounts across geographies to see the maturity of these accounts.”
Shri Murthy stated that the 16th Finance Commission grants have increased more than two times and one particular scheme itself called the Urban Challenge Fund, has a potential investment of more than four lakh crores to be available. There have been significant observations on the quality of these accounts that have been prepared and we reiterate to stand alongside with you to prepare a better quality of accounts as we go forward. Now in that journey we have also built our own capacities to address this challenge by two ways. The commercial ladder, which looks at economic and financial orders of cities’ organisation, their own capacities and strength in numbers, will be doubled in the next 4-5 years.
The CAG continued saying, “Beyond that, we are taking significant steps to build capacities of our own officers’ right from senior auditors to group officers through knowledge partners like IIM Bombay as well as the World Bank across sectors and focusing on urban development sector also we hope that this capacity that will be created in our organization will be able to provide state governments, Directorates and Commissioners of Urban Corporations good value to the audit that they do, enabling them to act upon it. While we do this specifically for the urban development sector, this is not in isolation. We have a larger role that we are playing across sectors. To take a couple of examples, the maturity of accounts is not only a requirement of the urban local bodies but of state governments. We are working very closely with all state governments through the Government Accounts wing to ensure there is proper preparation of accounts as well as harmonisation of these accounts.”
The CAG stated that we have chalked out a five-year plan on the topics that we want to take up. While this year it is mobility, next year it will be housing, water, sanitation and so on and so forth. This will not be a one-time engagement. This is an opening workshop to ensure that we get to know each other and at the field level, the AGs will be taking this forward to fine-tune and take your feedback also.
Mr Murthy said that, “We will be creating a separate work portal or an email ID for you to share your thoughts as we go along, which will enable us to plan and execute our own audit plans much better and hopefully serve you in your own decision-making and planning going forward. So, with these words, I just want to request you to kindly share your thoughts freely and frankly, enabling us to understand your priorities and to plan to share what the Union Ministry would like us to focus on, enabling us to direct our work accordingly.”
Addressing an afternoon session, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Vivek Bhardwaj, thanked the CAG, not only for organising this conference, but for recognising that preparation of accounts is only halfway to transparency and accountability. If we really need to nail this, while auditing online is one way, we need to actually flag all the shortcomings in this area. He said we had many conversations over the last few months and we are very grateful for CAG’s support in ensuring that panchayat raj institutions now become examples of what a model gram panchayat should be. This is possible by becoming accountable to its people, addressing their problems and keeping such accounts that they become bankable. Shri Bhardwaj disclosed that, “we are coming up with another scheme where the Gram Panchayats will contribute to assets in their jurisdiction without any assistance from the government, without any subsidy and without any interest subvention.”
Speaking on the occasion Ms. D Thara, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of India, urged the CAG for not only audit but facilitating for better preparation of accounts. She also suggested for citizen centric audit of public places.
In his Concluding Remarks Dy. CAG (LGA) Manish Kumar said that the stakeholders consultation is central to the functioning of the organization of C&AG of India and fruitful discussions with all stakeholders today has ensured a better insight for our audit products and a better collaboration for improved governance.
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