The Aryavarth Express
New Delhi : The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with IIT Madras to enhance sustainable audit skill sets and foster innovation in auditing.
These partnerships will combine the expertise and resources of the CAG, IIT Madras, and ICED to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the audit process.
The first MoU focuses on two critical areas: cyber security and sustainable audit. The second MoU signed between IIT Madras and the International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (ICED), Jaipur, will collaborate on capacity building and research in Environment Audit and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).
In his address, CAG Sanjay K Murthy said that soon, everything will be on a digital trail, and we need to build up our capacity to ensure that we can do that job effectively and efficiently.
He said, “We lined up quite a few MoUs, starting first with IIT Madras, in which two critical fields are being explored. One is on cyber security and the need to update our manuals and protocol systems, etc. But also to develop guidance for how we audit such types of entities, which will increasingly have digital data. What types of data sets will we face when we go forward with auditing?”
The CAG aims to develop protocols for auditing entities with digital data and enhance its capacity to audit remotely. IIT Madras’s expertise in sustainable practices will also support the CAG in delivering meaningful audits for entities focused on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The CAG said, “In the next five years, we need to ensure that I have a set of protocols. I do all this ground work that it becomes automatic when I reach out to institution to do an audit, what is this being asked for? What do they need to prepare themselves for, and how do we build a capacity to audit those entities remotely? This is one big expectation that we have from this MoU. We hope that you will enlighten the audience on certain examples to understand the type of threat that exists and the type of capacities each one of us needs to develop to face those challenges.”
This partnership will leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and other technological advancements to improve auditing effectiveness.
The CAG further said, “The other part of the engagement is on sustainable audit. IIT Madras has a fantastic, sustainable IIT school functioning on those premises. There is a lot of work going on, and we are talking about SDGs. I think we need to build our capacities to deliver good, meaningful audits for those entities.”
Director IIT Madras Dr V Kamakoti also delivered a speech as part of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s lecture series in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India here today and spoke at length about how IIT-M and CAG Office can collaborate on sharing digital technology to enhance Audit Work.
The MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) aims to establish a strategic collaboration between CAG and IITM, one of the premier technical institutions, to foster innovation, enhance data analytic capabilities and contribute to technology-driven governance practices. The collaboration will combine the expertise and resources of both organizations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the audit process.
The key focus areas are data governance and security, big data and digital infrastructure readiness, academic and research collaboration, advanced auditing practices, sustainability and governance, and joint research and development initiatives.
