CAG to Engage CA Firms for Audit of 350 Autonomous Bodies

The CAG had invited applications on May 27, and the deadline for submission closed on June 5. The empanelled firms are expected to be finalised within two weeks.

To address its growing audit responsibilities and limited in-house technical staff, the CAG will involve these CA firms in auditing around 350 Central autonomous bodies starting this year. About 30 cities have been selected for the initial phase. The firms will work under officers from the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, with the CAG retaining overall responsibility for the audits.

Deputy CAG Anand Mohan Bajaj clarified that the move does not amount to outsourcing. He assured that confidentiality would be maintained and the audits would continue to be conducted by the CAG’s team. This statement was made in response to concerns raised by CPI(M) MP A Venkatesan, who questioned whether the empanelment of CA firms could affect the CAG’s independence as reported by The Indian Express.

The involvement of CA firms is also aimed at freeing up internal resources to allow greater focus on performance and compliance audits nationwide.

Officials noted that the audit landscape has expanded significantly in recent years. The number of auditable entities now includes over 2,300 public sector enterprises (comprising more than 700 Central and 1,600 State public sector units) and around 1,200 autonomous bodies (including 485 Central and over 700 State bodies), in addition to panchayati raj institutions, urban local bodies, parastatals, and special purpose vehicles as reported by The Hindu.

To strengthen audit capacity, the CAG has partnered with premier institutions like IIT Madras, IIM Ahmedabad, and others for training in areas such as public policy, AI, data analytics, digital governance, and cybersecurity.

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