The Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) decision to conduct a three-phase audit of state-owned companies has found favour with PSUs as the move would encourage them to take corrective action quickly.
The three-phase CAG audit will help in scrutinising companies' accounts at the beginning instead of annually, the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) Chairman, Mr Sarthak Behuria said.
It is a good thing ... since they (CAG) are going to do a three-phase auditing, if there are certain issues, they can discuss and scrutinise them in the beginning, he added.
The audit watchdog CAG, in order to prevent a Satyam-like auditing fraud in PSUs, has decided to conduct a three-phase audit of 80 state-owned companies and other entities undertaking work of commercial nature.
In addition to IndianOil Corporation, the company headed by Mr Behuria, the CAG audit will cover almost all the blue-chip firms such as ONGC, ONGC Videsh, Steel Authority of India Ltd, BPCL, HPCL, and Shipping Corporation of India.
Pointing out that the CAG may find it difficult to undertake such a massive exercise in view of paucity of resources, Mr Behuria said, For us it is no problem because we have audits on a continuous basis ... We have internal audits, statutory audits and other mandatory audits.
|