Mr. K. P. Shashidharan is former Director General, CAG of India, Member, Indian Audit & Accounts Service, MSC from the London School of Economics (UK), AMDP from Lee Kuan Institute of Public Finance (Singapore), CISA (USA), CFE (USA), certified Quality Management System ISO9001 and EMS14001 Environmental Management System.
He worked in various capacities as Administrator, Accountant and Auditor in Ministry of Home Affairs and Supreme Audit Institution of India.
He is Visiting Professor to premier professional, academic and administrative training institutions; addressed important national and international business and industrial forums including Indo European Business Forum.
In his three and half decades of government service, Shashidharan had held important assignments both in CAG of India, Government of India and gone on deputation to UN bodies like UNHCR, UN Atomic Energy Agency, FAO and International Supreme Audit Institutions as Leader, External Audit team and Subject Matter Expert on Disinvestment, Environmental Audit and Taxation issues. He served as Member National Advisory Board for Accounting Standard, Chairman Audit Board, Member Governing Council, and Member, various technical committees of Institute of Chartered Accounts of India, RBI, CPSEs and currently a member of the SEBI Committee on Disclosures and Accounting Standards (SCODA).
As Director General Central Audit (Mumbai) he was in charge of audit of Income Tax and Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax in Maharashtra and Goa States, auditing nearly 40% of central government tax revenue including transfer pricing and international taxation.
As DG (Commercial) he had overseen certification of accounts of all Central Public Enterprises and CAG’s reports on their performance and compliance issues; introduced transparent Three Phase Audit in certification of accounts of public enterprises, addressing conferences all over India in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on corporate governance and CSR issues and need for transition to accrual based accounting system in Autonomous Bodies. Three Phase Audit has brought transparency, objectivity, accountability and error free financial statements in Central Public Enterprises and was acclaimed by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Standing Conference of Public Enterprises, CMDs of major CPSEs, ICAI, Auditors and other stakeholders.
As DG (Autonomous Bodies), DG (Western Region States) and DG (Central Audit) he had been actively interacting with Central and State governments, Ministries and Departments, Attached and Subordinate offices, Central and State Public Sector Enterprises, Autonomous Bodies, Societies and conducting performance audits evaluating implementation of various projects, programmes, schemes of Central, States and the third tier government organizations like Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions.
He functioned as Member Audit Board in Mumbai certifying the accounts of all major CPSEs in Oil & Natural Gas, Aviation and Transport Sectors supervising their performance and compliance audits. As Principal Head of the Department of Western Railway, he managed audit and certification of accounts of Western Zone of the Indian Railways. He also headed CAG’s training institution specialized in Environment Audit and sustainability development transforming the institute as a Centre of Excellence in human resource management and capacity building and pioneered Environment Audits in government.
As Director and Deputy Secretary (Finance) in the Ministry of Home Affairs he was responsible for budgeting, expenditure control and rendering financial advice to the Ministry, processing and sanctioning Plan and Non Plan projects of the Ministry and its attached and subordinate offices like IB, CBI and Central Police Organizations including CRPF, CISF, BSF, NSG, Bureau of Police Research & Development, National Crime Records Bureau and Central Forensic Laboratories.
As Director, Joint Secretary (Zonal Council) and Deputy Secretary (Finance) in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Government of India, he had organized conferences of Chief Ministers, Governors, Chief Secretaries on Centre State and interstate issues. He was also entrusted with duties relating to State’s Reorganization, States Police, Police training, Law and Order, Modernization of police, Modernization of Prison Administration, National Crime Records Bureau and Criminal Justice System. He has also authored various books and best selling Poetry namely Whispering mind, Painting Symphony and BIG: Business India Guru being some of his widely acclaimed work. As an established Freelance Columnist he has been contributing regularly to most of the news papers and professional journals and published more than 100 business and public finance related articles.