TIOL-DDT 206
21 09 2005
Wednesday

It was the scientist President speaking bytes of his mind to traditional AGs yesterday. The missile expert that he is, he fired a few at the prim and papered (no I don’t mean, pampered) Generals of Audit at their annual conference. Citing from his missile experience, he said, “the missile successfully reaches the target with the partnership of guidance and control system which is able to foresee the deviation and error and provide continuous correction. If the correction is provided after the event is over, you can see that the mission will not succeed. Similarly, if the auditors audit after the event is over or the mission is completed they will see many deviations but they are too late to correct. I am sure you can realize the importance of providing online corrections to the deviations”

In one of his best speeches which must have been just lost on the AGs, the President asked questions, wondered loud, suggested measures and patted the CAG for the great job. Here some quotable quotes.

• Can the auditors become like partners in a partnership firm? I am sure this is possible since both the executives and the audit are working for the common cause i.e. delivery of good governance to the citizens

• In the world of computers, software developers use the process control mechanism which ensures that the software developed, is nearly bug free and the programmer is almost prevented from making mistakes. CAG can perform the same role by developing process controls, guidelines and checks for auditing in the IT environment so that the irregularities will not enter into the financial management of government and public sector institutions.

• Today in our computerization attempts the paper trail is still maintained for fear of mistrust and untested authentication mechanisms in the world of computers. Hence computerization has nearly become an act of impediment and we merely enter the paper transactions on the computers. This has to be changed in such a way that the transactions are born digital and automatically captured; we should spend more time on thinking rather than data entry

• While the advantages of speed and efficiency can not be questioned, the frauds are also equally possible.

• The money can be transferred at blinding speeds and often without an acknowledgement or a trace. (He should know – a smart clerk in the State Bank of India simply withdrew a lakh of rupees from Mr. Kalam’s dormant account and it was with the interference of Prime Minister Vajpayee that he got his money back)

• Sooner or later, we will see an accounting in a borderless world.

• The aim of the audit should be to detect the deviations in near real time when the project is in progress and provide constructive solutions so that the objective of the project is met well in time.

• CAG may consider creation and maintenance of a centralized national asset register. The salient features of the asset can be put on the website for public awareness. Periodically the status of the asset may be reviewed and updated since CAG is the custodian of national wealth. This is indeed a big mission and challenge.

• Audit should be sensitive to the fact that E-commerce and a borderless world would soon be a reality.

• Auditing in the modern sense is a quality assurance phenomenon. It has to move from the conventional quality control mechanism to quality assurance of institutions through the establishment of internal controls and self-controls

• Audit has to be proactive and alert the system before occurrence of low performance.

• Apart from the planned audit CAG teams must be observant and be able to detect areas of immediate national concern and find urgent solutions through timely intervention.

The 80 – 20 phenomenon

• 20 percent of your sales force produce 80 percent of revenues
• 20 percent of your products account for 80 percent of product sales
• 80 percent of your visitors see only 20 percent of your Web site pages
• 80 percent of delays arise from 20 percent of the possible causes of delay
• 80 percent of customer complaints arise from 20 percent of your products or services
• 80 percent of complaints come from 20 percent of the employees
• 20 percent of you stock takes up 80 percent of your warehouse space
• 20 percent of your staff will cause 80 percent of your problems
• 20 percent of your staff will provide 80 percent of your production

And now Government has realized that 90% of the revenue comes from 10% of the assessees and may be 10% of your staff is responsible for this 90% revenue. Then do you need the rest of 90% of the staff and shouldn’t you pay this 10% a fat salary?

See our special column today for an interesting analysis of the LTU scene with reference to the 80 – 20 phenomenon.

Import of metallic scrap – only shredded scrap from Bandar Abbas, Iran

DGFT has amended the HOP and the Appendix-V to prescribe that only shredded scrap will be allowed import if the port of shipment is Bandar Abbas, Iran

DGFT PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 53/ 2004 –09, Dated: September 19, 2005

DGFT amends DEPB rates

DGFT has made amendments to the description value caps and rates of DEPB for certain commodities.

DGFT PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 54/ 2004 –09, Dated: September 19, 2005

Standard Input Output Norms (SION) - changes

DGFT has amended, deleted and added certain entries in the SION

DGFT PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 55/ 2004 –09, Dated: September 19, 2005

So long as authority inspires awe, confusion and absurdity enhance conservative tendencies in society. Firstly, because clear and logical thinking leads to accumulation of knowledge and the advance of knowledge sooner or later undermines the traditional order. Confused thinking, on the other hand, leads nowhere in particular and can be indulged indefinitely without producing any impact upon the world. --Stanislav Andreski,

Until tomorrow with more DDT

Have a nice day.

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