The Indian Civil Accounts Service(ICAS)(Hindi: भारतीय सिविल लेखा सेवा Bharatiya Civil Lekha Seva ) is one of the Civil Services of India ("Group A"). ICAS functions under the Department of Expenditure in the Union Ministry of Finance. The service was created consequent to the Departmentalisation in 1976 with the purpose of separating Auditing and Accounting functions of the Union Government. The initial intake into the ICAS was by deputing and transferring the personnel from Indian Audit and Accounts Department. Since 1977, direct recruits to ICAS are selected from the Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission, through which recruitment to all other Central Civil Services is made.
Indian Civil Accounts Organisation performs a key role in the delivery of financial management services for the Government of India. The organization provides payment services, supports the tax collection system, performs government-wide accounting, financial reporting functions, preparation of budget estimates and carries out Internal Audit in civil ministries of the Union Government. Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in Ministry of Finance heads the organization and is responsible for administering this system. The vast expertise available with the ICAS is utilized by the government at various levels of decision making as well as by International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a number of countries for advising on financial management and accounting functions.
This service has sanctioned cadre strength of 226 officers who are supported by around 9000 employees professionally qualified in the government accounting system. Source