The Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) is in charge of all the accounts of the railways, i.e. income, expenditures, etc. The officers of this service are responsible for Accounts and Finance Management of the Indian Railways. The Finance and Accounts functions of the Railways are integrated with the executive at all levels (Apex level headed by Financial Commissioner, Zonal level headed by General Manager and Divisional level headed by Divisional Railway Manager) in the Railways. The officers of the IRAS are responsible for giving advice to the management on financial matters and maintain accounts. Besides they are supposed to settle all claims against the railways, arising out of those transactions which it finds to be legitimate and regular. Divisional Level they do arrangements of Railway’s staff payment, work contractor’s payment and miscellaneous payment besides producing periodical statistics of operation, workshop repairs, commercial results, stores transactions, etc. IRTS officers are also up for the supervision of computers on Indian Railways. The stores organisation, which is responsible for procurement of stores and materials worth thousands of crores of rupees, is again assisted by Finance & Accounts. In nutshell, there is hardly any sphere of railway activity with which the Accounts and Finance organisation is not directly associated in the decision-making process. In addition, officers of the Service also occupy management posts such as Divisional Railway Managers, Additional General Managers etc.
Officers of Indian Railway Accounts Service serve in various government ministries on deputation as Deputy Secretary/Director, Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary. They are also sent to various Public Sector undertakings on deputation to hold finance portfolios.
For doing all these functions in an appropriate manner the selected candidates in the Civil Services exam are provided with two year training program that includes classroom training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Mussoorie, National Institute of Financial Management Faridabad , Railway Staff College Vadodara and specialised training institutes, as well as field training on zonal railways, divisions, construction organisations and manufacturing units of the Indian Railways.
The hierarchy
- Financial Advisor cum Chief Accounts Officer of a zone
- Senior Divisional Accounts Officers
- Divisional Accounts Officers
- Assistant Accounts Officers at Divisional Headquarters
