LAHORE, Oct 2: The online accounting and auditing system will be introduced in the Finance Department, AG’s Office and at the Faisalabad district accounts office this year.

Punjab Accountant General Wazir Ahmad Qureshi said this at a two-day workshop on ‘Project for improvement of financial reporting and auditing’ organized for the district accounts officers at the Audit and Accounts Training Institute here on Thursday.

He said Pakistan was the first country in South Asia to introduce the online auditing and accounting system. The system would be introduced in Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Sheikhupura, Rahimyar Khan, Sialkot, Jhelum, Gujrat, Jhang, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Attock, Dera Ghazi Khan, Kasur and Sahiwal districts and the AGPR sub-office in Lahore next year.

All district accounts offices in the province would be linked after Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Mianwali, Khushab, Chakwal, Bhakkar, Layyah, Toba Tek Singh, Lodhran, Pakpattan, Khanewal, Narowal, Rajanpur and Okara come online in 2005.

He said the AG’s Office would be able to monitor payments being made from all district accounts offices on the completion of the project. The service record and GP Fund of the employees transferred from one district to the other would also be transferred automatically. The details of the provincial budget and development and non-development expenditures in the province and districts would also be available online on a monthly basis.

Project deputy director Tanvir Mohsin said 41 district accounts officers and 17 officers of the AG’s Office had been given training whereas assistant accounts officers and the senior and junior auditors training was in progress. They would train their subordinate staff themselves.

He said expenditure details of 19 districts selected for starting online auditing and accounting next year had been received in a record time and had been forwarded to the auditor general’s office which had not received the details from any district accounts office in any other province so far.

He said 17,000 drawing and disbursing officers of different provincial government departments would also be trained.