O/o CCA

COMPUTERISATION OF ACCOUNTS
Initially the process of computerization of accounts in this office was with two software developed by NIC. The software titled IMPROVE (Integrated Multi-module Processor of Voucher Entries) was in use in the Pay & Accounts Office for computerization of voucher level accounts of payments & receipts and submission of a monthly consolidated account to Principal Accounts Office. The other software called CONTACT (Controllers Accounts) has been in use at the level of Principal Accounts Office for consolidation of monthly accounts received from PAOs and submission of a consolidated monthly account of the Ministry to the Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance. Window based applications like Microsoft Word and Excel are also used for preparation of Head-wise Appropriation Accounts, Material for Union Government Finance Account (Civil) and monthly expenditure and receipt statements for submission to Ministry and for other MIS purposes. COMPACT (PAO 2000)
A multi-user software for use at the Pay & Accounts Office level was inducted to replace the existing IMPROVE software. This software was developed with a view to computerize the work in all the Pay & Accounts Offices. This software was having the following features:

1. Pre-check (integrated payment and accounting functions and Automatic Cheque Printing)
2. Electronic Bank Reconciliation
3. General Provident Fund
4. Compilation of Accounts
5. Settlement of Pension Cases
6. Expenditure Vs Budget Control

Requisite hardware/software for implementation of COMPACT (PAO 2000) was procured and installed in all the PAOs and the package was functional in all the PAOs.

PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PFMS) Now the ‘Compact’ has also been substituted by Public Financial Management System (PFMS). PFMS web based Portal is used for expenditure, receipt and/or transfer of funds, accounting, reporting, reconciliation, tracking, monitoring and as a decision support system. Since PFMS is integrated with Core Banking Solution, therefore it’s able to validate each account number before sending the payment file. This hugely reduces the chances of fraud as the PFMS system compares the credentials of the beneficiary between the PFMS system and the banking system, which makes it impossible to pilfer funds to other bank accounts as is often done in other online payment systems.

The scheme is being implemented through a web based application developed and deployed by the O/o the Controller General of Accounts which leverages its well established accounting and financial reporting application viz. COMPACT & e-Lekha and the interfaces developed with the banking system. All Ministries / Departments are required to register the details of agencies / individual beneficiaries receiving grants from Government of India on the PFMS Portal along with their bank account details.

PFMS support fund management and e-payment through a secure integration with Core Banking Solution (CBS).

he PFMS system has been configured to facilitate all Plan and Non-Plan based creation of sanctions and routing of payments w.e.f. 01-04-2015.

Advantages of PFMS :

1. PFMS can track the utilization / transfer of funds up to end user spread across the country.
2. The MIS generated through PFMS can track availability of funds, unspent balances (live balance in account of the implementing Agency, which will lead to better financial management.
3. PFMS supports fund management and e-payment through a secure integration with Core Banking Solution (CBS). Unlike other MIS applications where financial MIS relies on post-facto data feeding, the fund utilization data in CPSMS has one to one correlation with the banking transactions effected by the implementing agencies. Thus, the FMIS available from the system has bank reconciled data on financial transactions on a real time basis..
4. The PFMS system has been configured to facilitate all payments based on creation of sanctions through PFMS.
5. PFMS establishes a common transaction-based on-line fund management and payment system
6. PFMS can provide MIS for all the expenditure in respect of Schemes of Government of India.
7. More importantly, PFMS enables complete and total transparency in the usage of Central Sector Scheme funds till the last mile. On one hand, this means that money will be directly transferred to the accounts of beneficiaries and on the other it will create a digital trail of each transaction done making it next to impossible to divert money to false beneficiaries or unapproved usages.

The payment process in PFMS :

Payment process in PFMS starts at Programme Divisions level

2. PD/HoO generates sanction-> DDO Receives sanction & generates bill-> PAO Passes the bill-> BANK Receives payment file, makes payment-> VENDOR Receives payment.