Accounting, audit reforms to bring transparency into BBMP

BENGALURU: The Directorate of Local Bodies, Rajasthan has taken a leap towards accounting and audit reforms governing Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Rajasthan is one of the first states to commence the process of empaneling CAs for Accounting and Audit of all ULB.

BBMP, an ULB  was exempted from Karnataka Municipal Accounting and Budgeting Rules (KMABR) and the services of empaneling charted accountants for accounting and auditing. Realising that the rules provide for more transparency and accounts discipline, the BBMP too has written a letter to the state government to make amendments to include the BBMP as well.

Speaking to this paper, BBMP special commissioner Kumar Pushkar (Resources and Finance) said that including BBMP under the KMABR, a manual for budgeting and accounts, brings uniformity for all the ULBs and more importantly, it provides for financial discipline. However, the BBMP is still awaiting the reply for the last six months, he said.

Manager, Public Record Of Operations and Finance (PROOF), Janaagraha, Srikanth Vishwanathan feels that the crucial benefit of getting the balance sheet audited is that BBMP can get to know all the assets it owns, the leveraging which it can raise revenues and it can get to know how much money is due to it from various revenue streams such as property tax, leases, advertisement tax etc.

In the absence of an audited balance sheet, BBMP is unable to raise higher revenues and repair its weak financial position. Needless to say, based on the balance sheet position, the state government needs to draw up a debt restructuring plan for the BBMP for it to overcome the huge burden of pending bills and loans, he said and added that it can prevent presenting inflated budgets and fooling tax paying citizens. If implemented in BBMP, it help to enhance transparency and financial accountability in ULBs.