What does a CAG report prove, and what does it not prove?

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, or CAG, is a constitutional institution. Articles 149 and 151 address its audit responsibilities and the submission of reports: Union reports go to the President to be laid before Parliament, while state reports go to the Governor to be laid before the state legislature. 1

This makes an audit report an important public record. It does not make every audit observation a criminal conviction.

Start with what was audited

Read the report title, the period covered, selected units and stated method. Check whether the finding concerns a particular programme, sampled locations, a department or an entire account.

Do not describe a sample finding as a census of every office unless the report actually supports that scope. A report tabled this year can examine events from earlier years; the tabling date is not the period in which all the audited events happened.

Read the exact finding

Distinguish an accounting issue, a failure to comply with rules, an implementation problem and a reported financial amount. Preserve the report's own category before interpreting it.

A rupee amount may refer to expenditure examined, an amount remaining unused, a questioned payment or another measure. Calling every such amount “money stolen” changes the claim and requires evidence the audit figure alone may not provide.

Look for the reply and later developments

Read the relevant department's response and the auditor's treatment of that response. A reply is not automatically a rebuttal, and its existence does not erase a supported finding. Equally, leaving out a material explanation can mislead readers.

If the report recommends action, look for the subsequent record. Do not imply that a recommendation proves the action occurred.

A hypothetical example

An audit finds that a completion certificate is missing from inspected files. That supports a claim about the missing record within the audit's scope. It does not alone prove that no construction took place, that a particular contractor stole the full project cost or that every project in the state has the same problem.

Those possibilities require further investigation. Good reporting makes the audit useful by preserving the distinction between what it establishes and the next question it raises.

Use the CAG audit-report directory to locate the full report. An index entry or report title is not enough to quote its findings.