Indian Civil Accounts Service

Indian Civil Accounts Service

Indian Civil Accounts Service
Service Overview
Abbreviation	ICAS
Formed	1976
Country	India
Training Ground	National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad Institute of Government Accounts and Finance, New Delhi
Controlling Authority	Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Legal Personality	Governmental
General Nature	Accounting
Service Chief
Controller General of Accounts	smt.ARCHANA NIGAM
Head of the All India Civil Services
Current Cabinet Secretary	Pradeep Kumar Sinha, IAS

The Indian Civil Accounts Service(ICAS)(Hindi: भारतीय सिविल लेखा सेवा Bharatiya Civil Lekha Seva ) is one of the Civil Services of India ("Group A"). ICAS functions under the Department of Expenditure in the Union Ministry of Finance. The service was created consequent to the Departmentalisation in 1976 with the purpose of separating Auditing and Accounting functions of the Union Government. The initial intake into the ICAS was by deputing and transferring the personnel from Indian Audit and Accounts Department. Since 1977, direct recruits to ICAS are selected from the Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission, through which recruitment to all other Central Civil Services is made.

Indian Civil Accounts Organisation performs a key role in delivery of financial management services for the Government of India. The organisation provides payment services, supports the tax collection system, performs government wide accounting, financial reporting functions, preparation of budget estimates and carries out Internal Audit in civil ministries of the Union Government. Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in Ministry of Finance heads the organisation and is responsible for administering this system. The vast expertise available with the ICAS is utilised by the government at various levels of decision making as well as by International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a number of countries for advising on financial management and accounting functions.

This service has sanctioned cadre strength of 226 officers who are supported by around 9000 employees professionally qualified in government accounting system.

Officers of ICAS are trained in three stages. For the first 10 months, they are trained at National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad along with officers of Indian Defence Accounts Services, Indian Postal-Telecom Accounts and Finance Services. NIFM provides ICAS officers Post Graduate Diploma in Public Financial Management. During NIFM training, they are also taken abroad for a foreign country exposure. In 2011, it was Manchester and in 2012, Malaysia and Singapore and in 2013, University of California,USA.