Finance Department

Department Related Information-

As per Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti Accounts Code, 1968 Rule 3, all financial transactions and all accounts (preparation of annual accounts and preparation of accounts and financial documents) of the Zilla Parishad are handled by the Finance Department. The Head of the Finance Department of the Zilla Parishad is the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer, who is an officer of the rank of Deputy Director of the Maharashtra Finance and Accounts Service, responsible for accounting and budget estimates. Also regarding the implementation of financial rules Hon. He works as Chief Executive Officer and Financial Advisor to Zilla Parishad and Primary Auditor. He is assisted by a Deputy Chief Accounts and Finance Officer (Class-I) and two Accounts Officers (Class-II). No authority approves financial transactions without the advice of the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer.

Vision and Objectives –

Every Public Officer should exercise the same vigilance in respect of expenditure incurred from Government revenues as a person of ordinary prudence would exercise in respect of expenditure of his own money.
Money borrowed on the security of allotted revenues should be expended on those objects only for which, as provided by rules made under the Act, money may be so borrowed. If the money is utilised on works which are not productive, arrangements should be made for the amorti- zation of the debt.
No authority should exercise its powers of sanctioning expenditure to pass an order which will be directly or indirectly to its own advantage
Government revenues should not be utilised for the benefit of a particular person or section of the community unless-
1. The amount of expenditure involved is insignificant,
2. A claim for the amount could be enforced in a Court of Law, or,
3. The expenditure is in pursuance of a recognised policy or custom.
The amount of allowances, such as travelling allowances, granted to meet expenditure of a particular type should be so regulated that the allowances are not on the whole sources ofpxofit to the recipients.

Objectives and Tasks-

Appendix 1 in to Maharastra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti Accounting Code Rules, 1968 As per

as Receiving and Paying Officer, he shall receive all moneys (other than moneys received in Panchayat Samitis due to or receivable on behalf of a Zilla Parishad and bring them promptly to account and pay or otherwise settle all claims (other than claims against Panchayat Samitis) preferred against the Parishad;
as Accounting Officer, he shall compile accounts of a Zilla Parishad in accordance with the rules prescribed in that behalf, regard being had to the data furnished to him;
as Primary Auditor, he shall be charged with the responsibility of applying certain preliminary checks to the initial accounts, vouchers and other like matters of accounts relating to a Zilla Parishad
as Financial Adviser, he shall be general adviser to a Parishad in all matters relating to accounts and budget estimate, or to the operation of financial rules generally. No financial sanctions shall therefore be issued by any authority except after consultation with him and no transaction project or proposal shall betransac-ted, undertaken or made without obtaining his opinion regarding its financial propriety
In the discharge of these duties and functions, he shall keep himself fully conversant with all sanctions and orders made by the office and with other proceed-ings of a Parishad and its subordinates which may affect the estimates or accounts of actual or anticipated receipts and charges He shall advise the Chief Executive Officer and the Zilla Parishad on the financial effect of all proposals for expenditure and keep a watch as far as possible over all the liabilities as soon as they are incurred-particularly, as respects liabilities incurred against grants made by the State Govern-pent.
The Chief Executive Officer and the Parishad shall see that he is given the fullest opportunity of becoming conversant with these sanctions, orders, and proceeding: and shall ensure that copies of all such sanctions, orders, etc., are supplied to him as and when they are issued. He should always be consulted on all matters which relate to finance, budget and accounts. To enable him to discharge his duties efficiently, the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer is treated as the Head of the Finance Department of the Parishad, and the staff in the Accounts Branches of the Samitis shall be piteed under his control. Similarly the staff dealing with accounts matters including badget, etc., under the various Heads of Departments shall also be placed under the overall control of the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer.
It shall bethe duty of a Chief Accounts and Finance Officer to see that the rules and orders for the time being in force are observed in relation to all transactions of a Parishad which come within his sphere of duties. If he considers that any transaction or order relating to receipts or expenditure is likely to be challenged on the application of a primary audit by the Chief Auditor, Local Fund Accounts, it shall be his duty to bring this fact to the notice of the Chief Executive Officer or other authority through the Chief Executive Officer which sanctioned the transaction or issued the order with a statement of his reasons, and to obtain the orders of that Officer. If the Chief Executive Officer or other authority overrules him and he is not satisfied with the decision, he shall forthwith make a brief note of the case in the Register of the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer’s Audit Objections in Form App. I and submit the Register before the Chief Executive Officer or other authority who may, either on reconsideration, accept the advice of the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer and order action accordingly, or may, after recording his reasons therein, siate that he does not agree with the advice so tendered to him.

If the Chief Accounts and Fiance Officer considers that the orders of the Chief Executive Officer or other authority are open to objection, or otherwise exceptionable he shall prepare a brief memorandum containing the full particulars of the proposal and details or grounds of his objection and submit the question to the Standing Committee through the Chief Executive Officer for decision. Provided that, if the orders objected to areissued by the President or any other authority under the powers vested in it, no objection shall be submitted to the Standing Committee except after informing the President or such other authority.
The decision of the Standing Committee on the question shall, subject to the review of the Chief Auditor, Local Fund Accounts, under sub-rule, be final and binding on the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer, who shall record the decision in the Register aforesaid and report the whole matter (after explaining in brief the advice tendered by him and the views expressed by the authority) to the Commis-sioner and the State Government.
The fact that a particular scheme or project or proposal has been objected to by the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer should not, however, prevent the implementation or execution of the scheme or project or proposal unless the compe tent authority has issued directions to stay the implementaion or execution.
The Register shall always be open to inspection of the Chief Auditor, Local Fund Accounts. If no audit inspection takes place in a year and entries have been made in the Register during the period since the last audit inspection, the Register or if the entries are few, an extract therefrom, shall be submitted to the Chief Auditor in the month of April for review. The decision of the Chief Auditor on any question decided under this paragraph shall be final and binding on the Parishad.

The Chief Accounts and Finance Officer shall be responsible for the proper and correct compilation of the monthly and annual accounts of the Parishad as well as the Samitis by the prescribed dates and for the submission thereof to the authorities concerned.

The Chief Accounts and Finance Officer shall be responsible for the correct compilation of the statements of utilisation of grants received from the State Government and for the submission thereof to the Chief Auditor by the prescribed date.

The Chief Accounts and Finance Officer shall be responsible for the arrangements for checking the computed tenders, i. e., for seeing that satisfactory and efficient arrangements are made for checking;

He should conduct personally a test-check of the computed and checked tenders sufficient to satisfy himself reasonably that the checking work has been properly done; and He should see that the comparative statement correctly incorporates the totals as checked on the individual tenders.

The Chief Accounts and Finance Officer shall bring to the notice of the Chief Executive Officer all instances in which subordinate officers exceed the finan-cial limitation on their powers placed by the competent higher authorities.

The Chief Executive Officer or the Parishad may require the Chief Accounts and Finance Officer-
to undertake on their behalf such other scrutiny of the accounts of receipts and disbursements of subordinate officers falling within his or its own powers of sanction as the Chief Executive Officer or the Parishad may consider necessary and
to inspect periodically the accounts or records of any Samiti, and to check a percentage of the initial accounts.
The Chief Accounts and Finance Officer shall bring any defects or irregulari-ties noted by him in his scrutiny or inspection of accounts under sub-rule to the notice of the Block Development Officer, and it shall betheduty of the Block Accoun-tant to explain the defects and irregularities and settle all the objections brought to the notice of the Block Development Officer.

The Chief Account and Finance Officer shall place the results of inspections made under this paragraph for the inspection of the Chief Auditor, Local Fund Accounts, and he shall report forfhwith,-

all financial irregularities of a serious nature, for the information of that officer even though they are set right under the orders of a competent authority, and,
all defalcations or losses of public moneys, stores, or other property, to the Chief Auditor, Local Fund Accounts, the Chief Executive Officer and the Commissioner, in accordance with such rules or procedure as may have been prescribed.

The accounts of interest-bearing securies and other investments should be examined to see that the rules relating to them are observed and that the Register, is properly maintained. A few transactions of the register should be compared with the entries in the cash book or other accounts, and vice versa. The securities certified in the last Register of Investments (Ferm 80) as being on hand should be verified by inspection as far as possible, and it should be seen, in respect of such of them as are not produced for inspection, that there are in existence either the ori-ginal acknowledgments of the depositors bearing dates subsequent to the dates of the last account or the acknowledgment of the authorised custodians, as the case may be.

The Chief Accounts and Finance Officer may seek the advice of the Chief Auditor through the Chief Executive Officer, in all matters connected with the accounts of a Parishad or the application of financial rules and orders concerned on which there may be any doubt.