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Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service is a group A service, wherein, the senior most person of the service is the Deputy Director General who heads this organisation.

The Service was started in 1972 for prudent and professional management of the finances of the Department of Posts and Department of Telecommunications which were the sole provider of the communications needs of the country at that time.

Training:

Training is split into three parts:

1. After selection through the civil services exam, the IP&TAFS officers get trained in the Foundation Course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie
2. This is followed by training in the financial management at the National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad, for 48 weeks along with officers of other organised accounts and finance services.
3. The final phase of training is at the advanced level telecom training centre at Ghaziabad with emphasis on postal and telecom functioning and rules. Here the training schedule has an intensive course in advanced accountancy.

After these training programmes, the officers handle posts in the Departments of Telecom and Posts, TRAI and a number of PSUs under the Communications Ministry.

All the finance posts in the largest PSUs in the country – BSNL and MTNL – are also manned by the officers of this service – Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service.

Career Progression:

Assistant Chief Controllers of Imports and Exports > Deputy Chief Controller of Imports and Exports > Joint Chief Controller Imports and Exports or Chairman of a Public Sector unit.

Why IP&TAFS:

This is a service of prestige and power. It involves postings at some of the prominent posts of the country. In Department of Telecommunications, the officers are posted at DOT Headquarters as Adviser, Sr DDG, DDG, Directors & ADG.

In field units the officers are posted as Controller or Joint Controller of Communication Accounts (CCA/JCCA) which is involved in the collection of License fees and Spectrum Usage Charges from Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL, MTNL and other service providers.

The CCA units also assist in the administration of Universal Service Obligation Fund under the Ministry of Communications & IT for providing telecom service in rural or remote areas of the country.

This involves: (a) planning & forecasting, (b) tendering, (c) costing, (d) disbursement of support to service providers, and (e) monitoring.

In the Department of Post, the officers from this service are manning the offices of Postal Accounts located at DOP Headquarters and in all states. The work in these offices mainly comprises maintaining General Provident Fund accounts of the staff employed in a particular postal circle, settlement of pension cases, checking of money order deliveries and NSCs, budgeting and financial control, Internal Audit of Postal Units and rendering financial advice to the concerned Head of the Circle.

With such important departments to serve in, respectable job, easy timings and good pay packages, the service becomes another of the coveted posts of India.