Hindu Administrative Institutions c9.s5.29

c9.s5.29

The accountants (karaṇika) were to submit their annual accounts by the first of the month of Srāvaṇa when set officers begin auditing them. The account books from rural areas were to be presented in sealed covers showing the receipts, expenditure, and the net balance.² Those who did not submit their books in proper time were liable to a fine. There should be no delay in the auditing of accounts. The auditor in his turn sent them as audited to the secretaries of the respective departments. A time of grace was usually allowed in submitting the accounts having regard to the nature of those accounts.³ Such of the officials as had shown increased items of income and decreased expenditure were to be rewarded, and if reverse they were punished.⁴ The accounts were to be submitted only in the prescribed forms, and any departure from this, and also double or treble entries were punished. Manipulation of entries, false accounts and scraping off the net-total were severely dealt with.¹