Broad overview of the structure of Government accounts

The Finance Accounts of the State of Mizoram present the accounts of receipts and outgoings of the Government for the year, together with the financial results disclosed by the Revenue and Capital accounts, the accounts of the Public Debt and the liabilities and assets of the State Government as worked out from the balances recorded in the accounts.

The Accounts of the Government are kept in three parts:

Part I: Consolidated Fund:

This Fund comprises all revenues received by the State Government, all loans raised by the State Government (market loans, bonds, loans from the Central Government, loans from Financial Institutions, Special Securities issued to National Small Savings Fund, etc.), Ways and Means advances extended by the Reserve Bank of India and all moneys received by the State Government in repayment of loans.  No moneys can be appropriated from this Fund except in accordance with law and for the purposes and in the manner provided by the Constitution of India.  Certain categories of expenditure (e.g. salaries of Constitutional authorities, loan repayments, etc.), constitute a charge on the Consolidated Fund of the State (Charged expenditure) and are not subject to vote by the Legislature. All other expenditure (Voted expenditure) is voted by the Legislature.

The Consolidated Fund comprises two sections: Revenue and Capital (including Public Debt Loans and Advances).  These are further categorised under ‘Receipts’ and ‘Expenditure’.  The Revenue Receipts section is divided into three sectors, viz. ‘Tax Revenue’, ‘Non-Tax Revenue’ and ‘Grants-in-Aid and Contributions’.  These three sectors are further divided into sub-sectors like ‘Taxes on Income and Expenditure’, ‘Fiscal Services’, etc..  The Capital Receipts section does not contain any sectors or sub- sectors.  The Revenue Expenditure section is divided into four sectors, viz. ‘General Services’, ‘Social Services’, ‘Economic Services’ and ‘Grants-in-Aid and Contributions’.  These sectors in the Revenue Expenditure section are further divided into sub-sectors like, ‘Organs of State’, ‘Education, Sports, Art and Culture’, etc.  The Capital Expenditure section is sub-divided into seven sectors, viz. ‘General Services’,

‘Social Services’, ‘Economic Services’,  ‘Public Debt’, ‘Loans and Advances’, ‘Inter-State Settlement’ and ‘Transfer to Contingency Fund’.

Part II: Contingency Fund:

This Fund is in the nature of an imprest which is established by the State Legislature by law, and is placed at the disposal of the Governor to enable advances to be made for meeting unforeseen expenditure pending authorisation of such expenditure by the State Legislature.  The fund is recouped by debiting the expenditure to the concerned functional major head relating to the Consolidated Fund of the State. The Contingency Fund of the Government of Mizoram for 2017-18 is ` 0.10 crore.

Part III: Public Account:

All other public moneys received by or on behalf of the Government, where the Government acts as a banker or trustee, are credited to the Public Account.  The Public Account includes repayables like Small Savings and Provident Funds, Deposits (bearing interest and not bearing interest), Advances, Reserve Funds (bearing interest and not bearing interest), Remittances and Suspense heads (both of which are transitory heads, pending final booking).  The net cash balance available with the Government is also included under the Public Account.  The Public Account comprises six sectors, viz. ‘Small Savings, Provident Funds, etc.’, ‘Reserve Funds’, ‘Deposit and Advances’, ‘Suspense and Miscellaneous’, ‘Remittances’, and ‘Cash Balance’.  These sectors are further sub-divided into sub- sectors. The Public Account is not subject to the vote of the Legislature.

Government accounts are presented under a six tier classification, viz. Major Heads (four digits), Sub- Major Heads (two digits), Minor Heads (three digits), Sub-Heads (two characters), Detailed Heads (two to three digits), and Object Heads (two or three digits). Major Heads represent functions of Government, Sub- Major Heads represent sub-functions, Minor Heads represent programmes / activities, Sub-Heads represent schemes, Detailed Heads represent sub-schemes and Object Heads represent purpose/ object of expenditure.

The main unit of classification in accounts is the Major Head which contains the following coding pattern (according to the List of Major and Minor Heads corrected upto March 2018).

The Finance Accounts, generally (with some exceptions), depict transactions upto the Minor Head. The figures in the Finance Accounts are depicted at net level, i.e. after accounting for recoveries as reduction of expenditure. This treatment is different from the depiction in the Demands for Grants presented to the Legislature and in the Appropriation Accounts, where, expenditure is depicted at the gross level.