CAG office to go paperless from April 1; paper-based workflow to cease

New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI): The Comptroller & Auditor General of India on Friday launched full digitisation of the audit process at the CAG office in New Delhi, which means that work will become paperless.

This was done through OIOS application. OIOS – One IAAD One System is an enterprise-wide end-to-end IT application, a technology which will replace the bulky files of audit. It is a web-enabled solution with support for multiple languages with offline functionality and a mobile app.

Highlighting the importance of digitisation, Girish Chandra Murmu declared that “from tomorrow onwards, all new audit work in our institution will take place only through OIOS and physical paper-based workflow must cease.”

OIOS is a step in a direction which strengthens Audit officers to continue to provide independent and credible assurance on public resources and be a global leader in public sector auditing. Murmu appreciated the efforts of the Organisation of about 130 odd audit offices spread all over the country for embracing this digital initiative.

Murmu emphasized that to audit the technology used by the Government in delivering services as well as ensuring equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and ethics in such delivery, auditors, need to be one step ahead of the government.

Extensive use of Artificial Intelligence in all fields is an inevitable outcome of government policies, he added.

IAAD is working towards building infrastructure and processes for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and harnessing the potential of these technologies for delivering audit products more effectively.

Murmu shared that SAI India as the Chair of SAI 20 under G20, has taken several initiatives in the area of responsible AI.
He further shared that SAI India is working towards formulating a data policy, governance principles, access protocols and security policy to give assurance to auditees for data safety and legitimate use.

The role of auditors is going to be critical in such a context since AI is still a little-understood technology, mostly opaque in its operations and needs to be evaluated in terms of ethics and responsibility, he stated

There were speeches by other senior officers of the organisation. The Importance of the OIOS application was shared by Parveen Mehta, Dy. CAG (HR, IR& Coordination), the Journey of developing this OIOS application was presented by K.R. Sriram, Deputy CAG(CRA). The event ended with a Vote of Thanks by BK Mohanty, DG Information System. The event was attended by officers of IAAD in New Delhi as well as web-casted to all 180 offices across India.