CAG Murmu Emphasises On Need For Adopting 'Audit Data Standards'

CAG Girish Chandra Murmu on Wednesday underlined the need for adopting 'Audit Data Standards' to the Government, which will help not only policymakers and executives, but the auditors in carrying out digital audits. In order to have an overview on the theme 'Responsible AI', especially in the context of India, the CAG hosted a seminar inviting eminent personalities to speak and share their expertise on the subject.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) explained that one of the major challenges for audit was lack of standardisation in underlying data structures across government IT applications. In many cases, different departments have systems which are incapable of either communicating with each other, or data linkages cannot be made to gain meaningful and actionable information.

"I am wondering whether government can come out with certain standards and formats on which data/information maintained by different departments/agencies can be seamlessly organised for better analysis. This will help not only policymakers and executives, but the auditors to carry out digital audits," Murmu said.

The CAG highlighted the increasing adoption of new technologies for audit work, in the CAG offices. Through the use of AI, the CAG offices are trying to go beyond the limitations of traditional audit processes - moving from sample-based audits to auditing the complete population data, and risk-driven sample selection.

Speaking at the occasion, Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary MeiTY, explained India is the home to the third largest and fastest growing AI (Artificial Intelligence) ecosystem in the world. In this era of digital transformation, role of AI technologies becomes crucial in bringing accountability and transparency in delivery of public services, he said.

The secretary also talked about how the government is moving towards evidence-based policy formulation and facilitating the acceleration that is being brought for the development of innovative startup ecosystem in India. Rohini Shrivastha, CTO Microsoft India, explained the principles for responsible and ethical use of AI and also emphasised on the need for risk-based regulation of AI technologies. The CAG is the chair for SAI 20, which is the engagement group of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) of the G20.