The Comptroller and the Auditor General of India is a Constitutional Authority and heads the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. C&AG is the statutory auditor of the Government and audits expenditure and receipt of Central and State Government, Public Sector Companies, Corporations, Autonomous bodies at the Central and the State levels, Local bodies etc.

The need for training officials to discharge duties related to accounting and auditing  were  brought  to the fore by the  East  India Company  in the  1800s.  In  1857 a General Department of  Accounts  was  created  with Sir Edmund as the first  Auditor General in 1860.  The responsibilities, status and independence of the Auditor General have been evolved through the provisions of the Government of India Act of 1919 and 1935. While the GOI Acts-1919 gave statutory recognition, the GOI Act-1935 determined the status of Auditor General. The Constitution of India in 1950 accorded a position of eminence to the C&AG who, as summed up by Dr B.R. Ambedkar was the 'most  important officer  in the  Constitution  of  India'. Shri V. Narhari Rao was the first C&AG in independent  India..

In 1971, the ( C&AG's Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act was enacted. Until1984, the IA&AD functioned through composite offices dealing with audit and accounts functions. However, due to functional difficulties, the composite offices were bifurcated into distinct offices with separate cadres for dealing with (a) all audit work and (b) all accounting & entitlement work. Thus the Department maintained the independence of the accounts and audit functions.

The stakeholders, in recent years are  more  aware and desirous to know more about the performance and results, with emphasis on flagship programmes notably in the social and infrastructure sectors. GAG's reports afford an opportunity to the Government to make midcourse corrections and improve service delivery, Audit by the C&AG traditionally deals with probity and compliance.

The C&AG has also been at the forefront in public service delivery and handles the entitlement functions such as pension, provident fund and issue of pay slips to the employees of the Government /Semi Govt organisations. New audit concerns have arisen with  the  emergence of public private partnership and regulations as well as the focus on sustainable developments & environmental conservation.

Now the audit has introduced changes due to e-governance. Over 350 IT audits of diverse  platforms and databases have been done so far. This has earned the Prime Minister's award for excellence in 2008.

The standard of professionalism has won the appreciation in international fora. To achieve professional competence, its cadre are trained rigorously at  the National Academy of Audit and Accounts at Shimla. In addition, International Centre  for  Information  Systems and Audit at Noida, (an ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 27001 certified institutions) has  been established as a  premier trg institute.

CAG has also been the external auditor for the United Nations, its associate organisations, FAO, WHO, IMO and WTO. C&AG is affiliated to the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions and its Asian counterpart. Recently C&AG has been entrusted with the audit of the World Food Programme amidst stiff competition.

India Post is happy to commemorate 150 years of the institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India by issue of a postage stamp.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India