Uniform Format of Accounts for Central Autonomous Bodies

Of the 7 bodies that tested their previous year's accounts against the format, 5 found no problem and recommended adoption; 2 made observations. The response window was very short (2–3 weeks), yet interest was high.

1. Cash vs accrual: Most bodies kept accounts on a cash basis, not accrual.
2. No depreciation: Some entities did not depreciate their fixed assets at all.
3. Income-tax exemption: Certain accounting treatments would be needed to preserve tax exemption (taxation was treated by the Committee as incidental and secondary).
4. Statutory amendments: Changes to the Societies Act, Trust Acts and Companies Act might be required — a matter for Government, outside the Committee's purview.
5. UGC parallel: The UGC had its own committee on university accounts (report to UGC in Sept 1982, still unfinalised).
6. Hotel Management: NCHMCT had proposed a common format for hotel-management institutes.
7. Training & software: Bodies wanted proper training and, ideally, ready-made computer software before switching systems.

The Committee noted that Central autonomous bodies are not homogeneous — some run education and culture, others promote social sectors. Two categories are especially numerous: educational institutions (incl. Central Universities) and District Rural Development Agencies. Within the common format, administrative Ministries may make central adjustments to suit such bodies.

• 🏫Observation 5: Ministries may modify the format for large classes (e.g. universities, hotel-management institutes) or where specialised reporting warrants it.
• 🎓Observation 6: Training and common software can be arranged by Ministries or through the ICAI; since accrual is common in the private and public sectors, training sources exist.
• 📊Observation 7: Minor demands (Plan/Non-Plan break-up, retirement-benefit provisions) are already in-built; additions/deletions within the basic structure are permitted.
• 🎯Observation 8: The socio-economic activities — translated into income & expenditure per activity/project — are captured, especially via Schedule 3 (Earmarked Funds), which also covers Plan & Non-Plan grants.

1. One common format for all autonomous organisations' accounting and presentation.
2. Additional information may be prescribed within that common format for Central Universities / Educational Institutions and for District Rural Development Agencies.
3. The Financial Statements and Schedules shall provide full disclosure of the organisation and all accounting information.
4. Accounting shall be on the Accrual System, maintaining the "Going Concern" concept.
5. Depreciation on fixed assets shall apply to all autonomous organisations.
6. Financial Statements shall be prepared in the six prescribed formats — Annexures A to F (Balance Sheet, Income & Expenditure, Schedules, Instructions & Principles, Notes & Instructions for Schedules, Receipts & Payments).
7. The formats apply to all accounting years commencing on or after 1 April 2001 — earlier adoption encouraged.

• 📑Disclose at one place: All significant accounting policies must be stated together. Policies are the specific principles and methods the entity adopts.
• ⚠️Departures flagged: Where a policy departs materially from accounting standards, disclose the departure, the reasons, and its financial effect (unless that effect is not ascertainable).
• 🔄Consistency: Policies are applied consistently year to year. Any change with a material effect — current or expected future — must be disclosed, along with the amount affected (or the fact that it can't be quantified).
• 🔎Substance over form: Accounting treatment and presentation are governed by the substance of transactions, not merely their legal form.

Separate disclosure is required in the Income & Expenditure Account for: Prior-period items (material income/expense arising now from errors or omissions in earlier periods); Extraordinary items (material, clearly distinct from ordinary activities, not expected to recur); and any Miscellaneous Income or Expense exceeding 1% of total turnover/gross income or ₹50,000, whichever is higher.

• 📎Integral part: The Schedules, accounting policies and explanatory notes form an integral part of the financial statements.
• 📝Notes: Notes to the statements carry the explanatory material for each line item.

Rounding-off scale (Instruction 12)

The Balance Sheet sets Corpus/Capital Fund and liabilities against assets, each line cross-referenced to a schedule, with a Current-Year vs Previous-Year column pair throughout.

Although the system is now accrual, the format retains a Receipts & Payments statement — a purely cash summary of what came in and went out during the year. This preserves continuity with Government's cash-based reporting and helps users reconcile cash movements against the accrual results. It is the last of the six annexures.

• 🏦The Corpus/Capital Fund is akin to Capital / Share Capital / Owners' Funds. It comprises amounts contributed specifically to the Corpus, increased or decreased by the net operating result from the Income & Expenditure Account (excluding any surplus moved to Reserves or Earmarked Funds).
• 📊Show the Opening Balance, Additions, Deductions and Closing Balance. Additions are shown net of any transfers required by statute to a Reserve or Earmarked Fund.

• 🏛️Plan Funds shown separately: Plan Funds from Central/State Governments must be a distinct category, never mixed with other funds. Other earmarked/endowed funds (for a chair, building, trust, etc.) are also shown distinctly.
• 💰Backed by assets: Earmarked funds are represented by specifically earmarked investments or other assets.

A current liability falls due within a relatively short period — normally not more than 12 months. The schedule splits into two halves:

Fixed assets are those held for use in producing or providing services, not for sale in the normal course of trade. The schedule is a full movement grid — Gross Block, Depreciation, and Net Block — with eleven asset categories plus capital work-in-progress.

Two parallel schedules with identical structure — the difference is the source of the money: Schedule 9 covers investments made out of Earmarked/Endowment Funds; Schedule 10 covers all other investments. Both classify into Government Securities, Other Approved Securities, Shares, Debentures & Bonds, Subsidiaries/Joint Ventures, and Others.

• 🏛️Sources listed: Central Government · State Government(s) · Government Agencies · Institutions/Welfare Bodies · International Organisations · Others.
• 🔄Pass-through grants: Grants the body in turn gives to other institutions on an irrevocable basis are shown as expenditure in Schedule 22 — not netted off here.
• ⚠️Conditional grants differ: Grants tied to specific purposes / conditions belong in the Earmarked Funds (Schedule 3), not here.

Depreciation is the fifth expenditure line on the face of the I&E Account, taken directly as the net total from Schedule 8 rather than a separate numbered schedule.

• 📊Plan vs Non-Plan: Plan Funds received from Central/State Governments are shown as a separate, distinct category of Fund in Schedule 3 — never mixed with other funds. This satisfies the demand for Plan/Non-Plan break-up.
• 🎯Activity-wise view: The Committee's third term of reference — evaluating achievement of socio-economic objectives — is met by tracking income & expenditure for each activity/project, anchored in the Earmarked Funds schedule.
• 📑Fixed assets per fund: Records of fixed assets acquired/constructed should be kept for each earmarked fund; the annual statements disclose the accumulated cost of such assets per fund, unless they are absorbed into Schedule 8.

• 🏫Large classes: For numerous, distinctive classes — Central Universities & other educational institutions, and District Rural Development Agencies — administrative Ministries may centrally prescribe additional information within the common format.
• 📝Tax method choice: A body may switch to the WDV depreciation method to meet the Income Tax Act, since the straight-line policy is only illustrative.
• ⚖️The end goal: uniformity, comparability and transparency — for the autonomous organisations and for the Government alike.