Sitharaman asks civil accounts officers to make Govt's annual accounts more user-friendly

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 also said that 'just-in-time' release of funds through the PFMS has helped to keep borrowings under check and saved interest cost.

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Sitharaman also 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 (Comptroller and Auditor General), 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 to SNA-SPARSH and convince them about the benefits of this reform for quick adoption," she said, while suggesting to CGA officers to engage more with your counterparts in the states, take their input and encourage them to adopt the system.

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.

It 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 asked 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.

The SNA module introduced in 2021-22 fiscal has helped save more than Rs 11,000 crore in interest cost, while the Treasury Single Account System (TSA), a system in autonomous bodies, has saved over Rs 15,000 in interest costs since 2017-18.

"Just-in-Time fund releases have helped us to ensure that we don't borrow more than what we need. It has also given us an advantage in making sure that to lessen the burden on future generations," Sitharaman said.

Recalling her July 2024 Budget speech wherein the minister had said, "For improving data governance, collection, processing and management of data and statistics, different sectoral databases, including those established under the Digital India mission, will be utilized with active use of technology tools".

CGA has the potential to work in this regard, given that PFMS has a huge dataset.

"With respect to cooperative federalism, this is a silent technological revolution in which the states are finding a lot more ease of operation and getting their government business done through the adoption of PFMS," Sitharaman said.

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