Indian Audit and Accounts Service is an Central Government service, free of control from any executive authority, under the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The officers of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service serve in an audit managerial capacity, in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. IA&AS is responsible for auditing the accounts of the Union and State governments and public sector organizations, and for maintaining the accounts of State governments. Its role is somewhat similar to the US GAO and National Audit Office. The service can be divided into officers looking after accounting and audit issues pertaining to the Union government and the State governments, and those manning the department's headquarters. The state accounts and audit offices are headed by Accountants General or Principal Accountants General. They are functionally equivalent; only the designations vary. Major states have three Principal Accountants General or Accountants General, each heading Accounts and Entitlement, Cluster 1 or Cluster 2 The equivalent officers at the Central level are Principal Directors or Directors General. The PDs, DsG, AsG and PAsG report to Additional Deputy CAG or Deputy CAG. The Deputy CAGs are the highest-ranked officers in the service. After training, the Officer Trainees are posted as Assistant Accountant GeneralAssistant Directors a Junior Grade Group A later promoted to Deputy Accountants General or Deputy Directors a Senior time scale. Subsequent to their promotion, they become Senior Deputy Accountants General or Directors. All officers below the rank of AG/PD are also called Group Officers as they are generally in charge of a group in the office.
Recruitment and training
Recruitment to the IA&AS is through the joint competitive examinations and through promotion from the subordinate cadre. Once recruited to the IA&AS, the directly recruited officers are trained mainly at the , Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. The training is split into two phases. Phase-1 involves giving a theoretical background to the students on concepts of Government and commercial auditing and accounting. Phase-2 gives emphasis on practical training. The training involves modules where Officer Trainees are attached to the Reserve Bank of India,TISS-Mumbai,SEBI the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, NIFM Faridabad, the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The Officer Trainees are also given an international exposure through attachment with London School of Economics and Political Science and National Audit Office.
Sanctioned strength
;Sanctioned strength of IA&AS Cadre Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General: 7 Additional Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General: 10 Principal Accountant General: 86 Accountant General : 97 Sr. Deputy Accountant General : 165 Deputy Accountant General : 228 Assistant Accountant General : 102
