Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866
EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARMENTS ACT 1866 | ||
CHAPTER XXXIX | ||
An Act to consolidate the Duties of the Exchequer and Audit Departments. to regulate the Receipt, Custody, and Issue of Public Moneys, and to provide for the Audit of the Accounts thereof. [28th June 1886.] | ||
[Preamble.] | ||
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Short title. |
1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as “The Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866.” | |
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Definition of terms. |
2. In this Act “principal accountants” shall mean those who receive issues directly from the accounts of Her Majesty’s Exchequer at the Banks of England and Ireland respectively; “sub-accountants” shall mean those who receive advances, by way of imprest, from principal accountants, or who receive fees or other public moneys through other channels; “the Secretaries of the Treasury” shall include the Assistant Secretary. | |
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Tenure of Comptroller and Auditor General and Assistant Comptroller and Auditor. |
3. . . . The Comptroller and Auditor General and Assistant Comptroller and Auditor shall hold their offices during good behaviour, subject, however, to their removal therefrom by Her Majesty, on an address from the two Houses of Parliament; and they shall not be capable of holding their offices together with any other office to be held during pleasure under the Crown, or under any officer appointed by the Crown; nor shall they be capable while holding their offices of being elected or of sitting as members of the House of Commons; nor shall any peer of Parliament be capable of holding either of the said offices. | |
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Salaries and pensions. 22 Vict. c. 26. |
4. Her Majesty may, by such letters patent, grant to the persons therein named the following salaries; that is to say, | |
To the Comptroller and Auditor General a salary of two thousand pounds per annum, and to the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor a salary of one thousand five hundred pounds per annum; and such salaries shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, or the growing produce thereof. | ||
It shall be lawful for Her Majesty by letters patent as aforesaid, to grant to any person who shall have executed the offices of Comptroller and Auditor General, or Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, on his ceasing to hold such office, an annuity or pension not exceeding one half of the salary of his office to which he shall have been entitled immediately before he ceased to hold such office, if he shall have held either, or one after the other, of the said offices, or the office of Commissioner of Audit, for a period not less than fifteen years, and two thirds of his said salary if he shall have held either, or one after the other, of the said offices for a period not less than twenty years: Provided always, that no such annuity or pension shall be granted to either of the said officers unless he be sixty years of age at the least, or be afflicted with some permanent infirmity disabling him from the due execution of his office, the same to be distinctly recited in such grant: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall prevent either of the said officers from receiving, in lieu of such annuity or pension, if he shall so elect, the amount of superannuation allowance to which he would have been entitled in respect of the full period during which he shall have served in the permanent Civil Service of the State, under the provisions of the Superannuation Act, 1859. | ||
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Duties of Comptroller General of the Exchequer and Commissioners of Audit. |
5. . . . the person appointed to be Comptroller and Auditor General shall have and perform all the powers and duties conferred or imposed on the Comptroller General of the Exchequer and the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts respectively by any enactments relative to those authorities respectively, as far as the same are not repealed or altered by this Act or any other Act of the present session of Parliament . . . | |
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Vacancy in office of Comptroller and Auditor General, &c. |
6. On the death, resignation, or other vacancy in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, or of the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, Her Majesty, may, by letters patent as aforesaid, nominate and appoint a successor, who shall have the same powers, authorities, and duties, and who shall be paid the like salary, and the like annuity or pension, out of the Consolidated Fund. | |
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Temporary absence of Comptroller and Auditor General. |
7. Anything which under the authority of this Act is directed to be done by the Comptroller and Auditor General may in his absence be done by the Assistant Comptroller and Auditor, except the certifying and reporting on accounts for the House of Commons. | |
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Appointment of officers, clerks, &c. and their salaries. |
8. The Treasury shall from time to time appoint the officers, clerks, and other persons in the department of the Comptroller and Auditor General; and Her Majesty by Order in Council may from time to time regulate the numbers and salaries of the respective grades or classes into which the said officers, clerks, and others shall be divided. | |
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Regulation of officers. |
9. The Comptroller and Auditor General shall have full power to make from time to time orders and rules for the conduct of the internal business of his department, and to promote, suspend, or remove any of the officers, clerks, and others employed therein; and to prescribe regulations and forms for the guidance of principal and of sub-accountants in making up and rendering their periodical accounts for examination: Provided always, that all such regulations and forms shall be approved by the Treasury previously to the issue thereof. | |
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Gross revenues to be paid to Exchequer, and daily returns to be sent to Comptroller and Auditor General. |
10. The Commissioners of Customs, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and the Postmaster-General shall, after deduction of the payments for drawbacks, bounties of the nature of drawbacks, repayments, and discounts, cause the gross revenues of their respective departments to be paid, at such times and under such regulations as the Treasury may from time to time prescribe, to accounts, to be intituled “The Account of Her Majesty’s Exchequer,” at the Bank of England and at the Bank of Ireland respectively; and all other public moneys payable to the Exchequer shall be paid to the same accounts; and accounts of all such payments shall be rendered to the Comptroller and Auditor General daily, in such form as the Treasury may prescribe: Provided always, that this enactment shall not be construed to prevent the collectors and receivers of the said gross revenues and moneys from cashing, as heretofore, under the authority of any Act or regulation, orders issued for naval, military, revenue, civil, or other services, repayable to the revenue departments out of the Consolidated Fund, or out of moneys provided by Parliament. | |
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Moneys to form one fund in the books of the Banks of England and Ireland, applicable to Exchequer issues. |
11. All moneys paid into the Bank of England and the Bank of Ireland on account of the Exchequer shall be considered by the Governor and Company of the said Banks respectively as forming one general fund in their books; and all orders directed by the Treasury to the said Banks for issues out of credits to be granted by the Comptroller and Auditor General, as herein-after provided for the public service, shall be satisfied out of such general fund; and with a view to economize the public balances, the Treasury shall restrict the sums to be issued or transferred from time to time to the credit of accounts of principal accountants at the said Banks, as herein-after provided, to such total sums as they may consider necessary for conducting the current payments for the public service intrusted to such principal accountants; and the said principal accountants may consider the sums so transferred to their accounts as constituting part of their general drawing balance, applicable to the payment of all the services for which they are accountable; but such sums shall be carried in the books of such accountants to the credit of the respective services for which the same may be issued, as specified in such orders: Provided always, that this enactment shall not be construed to empower the Treasury or any authority to direct the payment, by any such principal accountant, of expenditure not sanctioned by any Act whereby services are or may be charged on the Consolidated Fund, or by a vote of the House of Commons, or by an Act for the appropriation of the supplies annually granted by Parliament. | |
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Quarterly accounts of the income and charge of the Consolidated Fund to be prepared. Provision in case of deficiency of the Consolidated Fund. |
12. At the close of each of the quarters ending on the thirty-first day of March, the thirtieth day of June, the thirtieth day of September, and the thirty-first day of December in every year the Treasury shall prepare an account of the income and charge of the Consolidated Fund in Great Britain and in Ireland for such quarter, and the charges for the public debt due on the fifth day of April, the fifth day of July, the tenth day of October, and the fifth day of January shall be included in the accounts of the said charge for the quarters ending on the days preceding the latter dates; and a copy of such account shall forthwith be transmitted by the Treasury to the Comptroller and Auditor General; and if it shall appear by such account that the income of the Consolidated Fund in Great Britain or in Ireland for the quarter is not sufficient to defray the charge upon it, the Comptroller and Auditor General, if satisfied of the correctness of the deficiency, shall certify the amount thereof to the Bank of England or to the Bank of Ireland, as the case may be, and upon such certificates the said Banks shall be authorized to make advances, from time to time, during the succeeding quarter, on the application of the Treasury by writing, in a form to be from time to time determined by them, to an amount not exceeding in the aggregate the sums specified in such certificates; and all such advances shall be placed to the credit of the Exchequer accounts at the said Banks, and be available to satisfy the orders for credits granted or to be granted upon the said accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General; and the principal and interest of all such advances shall be paid out of the growing produce of the Consolidated Fund in the said succeeding quarter. | |
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Credits for services charged on the Consolidated Fund. Supplemental credits for services charged on the growing produce of the Consolidated Fund, and not included in quarterly accounts. Daily advices of issues. |
13. The Comptroller and Auditor General shall grant to the Treasury, from time to time, on their requisitions authorizing the same, if satisfied of the correctness thereof, credits on the Exchequer accounts at the Banks of England and Ireland, or on the growing balances thereof, not exceeding the amount of the charge in the aforesaid quarterly account of the income and charge of the Consolidated Fund remaining unpaid. | |
The Comptroller and Auditor General shall also grant from time to time to the Treasury, on similar requisitions, supplemental credits for services payable under any Act out of the growing produce of the Consolidated Fund, and not included in the aforesaid quarterly account; and the issues or transfers of moneys required from time to time by the principal accountants to enable them to make the payments intrusted to them shall be made out of such credits on orders issued to the said Banks, signed by one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, or in their absence by such officer or officers as the Treasury may from time to time appoint to that duty; and in all such orders the services for which the issues may be authorized shall be set forth. | ||
A daily account of all issues or transfers made from the Exchequer accounts, in pursuance of such orders, shall be transmitted by the said Banks to the Comptroller and Auditor General. | ||
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Royal orders for issue of sums granted by resolution or Act of Parliament for expenses of specified public services. |
14. When any sum or sums of money shall have been granted to Her Majesty by a resolution of the House of Commons, or by an Act of Parliament, to defray expenses for any specified public services, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time, by her royal order under the Royal Sign Manual, countersigned by the Treasury, to authorize and require the Treasury to issue, out of the credits to be granted to them on the Exchequer accounts as herein-after provided, the sums which may be required from time to time to defray such expenses, not exceeding the amount of the sums so voted or granted. | |
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Credits for ways and means granted to make good supplies granted by Act or resolution. Issues to principal accountants out of such credits. Daily advices of issues to be sent to Comptroller and Auditor General. |
15. When any ways and means shall have been granted by Parliament to make good the supplies granted to Her Majesty by any Act of Parliament or resolution of the House of Commons, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall grant to the Treasury, on their requisition authorizing the same, a credit or credits on the Exchequer accounts at the Bank of England and Bank of Ireland, or on the growing balances thereof, not exceeding in the whole the amount of the ways and means so granted. Out of the credits so granted to the Treasury issues shall be made to principal accountants from time to time on orders issued to the said Banks, signed by one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, or in their absence by such officer or officers as the Treasury may from time to time appoint to that duty; and the services or votes on account of which the issues may be authorized shall be set forth in such orders: Provided always, that the issues for Army and Navy services shall be made under the general heads of “Army” and “Navy” respectively. | |
A daily account of all issues made from the Exchequer accounts in pursuance of such orders shall be transmitted by the said Banks to the Comptroller and Auditor General. | ||
[S. 16 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 45. s. 6. S. 17 rep. 52 & 53 Vict. c. 52. s. 2.] | ||
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Banks at which accountants are to keep public moneys, &c. |
18. The Treasury may from time to time determine at what banks accountants shall keep the public moneys entrusted to them, and they may also determine what accounts so opened in the names of public officers or accountants in the books of the Bank of England, of the Bank of Ireland, or of any other bank, shall be deemed public accounts; and on the death, resignation, or removal of any such public officers or accountants the balances remaining at the credit of such accounts shall, upon the appointment of their successors, unless otherwise directed by law, vest in and be transferred to the public accounts of such successors at the said Banks, and shall not, in the event of the death of any such public officers or accountants, constitute assets of the deceased, or be in any manner subject to the control of their legal representatives. | |
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Consolidation of public accounts at the Bank of England or Ireland. |
19. It shall be lawful for the Treasury, whenever they shall consider it for the advantage of the public service, to direct that the accounts of any public officer or department, which by any Act or Acts are required to be kept under separate heads at the Bank of England or at the Banks of Ireland, shall be consolidated in such manner as they shall judge most convenient for the public services. | |
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Accounts of stock may be opened in the books of the Banks under official description of public officers. Authority to Banks to receive dividends and sell stock. |
20. It shall be lawful for the Bank of England and Bank of Ireland, at the request of the Treasury, signified by one of their Secretaries, for the public convenience, to open and keep accounts of Government stock and annuities in the books of the said Banks under the official description of any public officer for the time being, without naming him; and the dividends on such stock and annuities may from time to time be received, and the stock and annuities or any part thereof to the credit of such account may from time to time be transferred, by the officer for the time being holding such office, as if such stock and annuities stood in his own name; and upon the death, resignation, or removal of any such public officer the stock and annuities standing to the credit of such account, and all dividends thereon, including any dividends not theretofore received, shall become vested in his successor in office, and be receivable and transferable accordingly. And any such public officer in whose official description such Government stock and annuities may be standing may by letter of attorney authorize the Bank of England or the Bank of Ireland, or all or any of their cashiers, to sell and transfer all or any part of the stock or annuities from time to time standing in the books of the said Banks on such account, and to receive the dividends due and to become due thereon; but no stock or annuities shall be sold or transferred at the said Banks under the authority of such general letter of attorney, except upon an order in writing, signed by one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, directed to the proper officers of the said Banks. | |
Appropriation Accounts. | ||
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Annual accounts of issues for services charged directly on Consolidated Fund. |
21. The Treasury shall cause an account to be prepared and transmitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General for examination on or before the thirtieth day of September in every year, showing the issues made from the Consolidated Fund of Great Britain and Ireland in the financial year ended on the thirty-first day of March preceding, for the interest and management of the public funded and unfunded debt, for the Civil List, and all other issues in the financial year for services charged directly on the said Fund; and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall certify and report upon the same with reference to the Acts of Parliament under the authority of which such issues may have been directed; and such accounts and reports shall be laid before the House of Commons by the Treasury on or before the thirty-first day of January in the following year, if Parliament be then sitting, and if not sitting, then within one week after Parliament shall be next assembled. | |
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Annual accounts of the appropriation of the supply grants comprised in the Appropriation Act. |
22. On or before the days specified in the respective columns of schedule A. annexed to this Act, accounts of the appropriation of the several supply grants comprised in the Appropriation Act of each year shall be prepared by the several departments, and be transmitted for examination to the Comptroller and Auditor General and to the Treasury, and when certified and reported upon as herein-after directed they shall be laid before the House of Commons; and such accounts shall be called the “appropriation accounts” of the moneys expended for the services to which they may respectively relate; and the Treasury shall determine by what departments such accounts shall be prepared and rendered to the Comptroller and Auditor General; and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall certify and report upon such accounts as herein-after directed; and the reports thereon shall be signed by the Comptroller and Auditor General: Provided always, and it is the intention of this Act, that the Treasury shall direct that the department charged with the expenditure of any vote under the authority of the Treasury shall prepare the appropriation account thereof: Provided also, that the term “department,” when used in this Act in connexion with the duty of preparing the said appropriation accounts, shall be construed as including any public officer or officers to whom that duty may be assigned by the Treasury. | |
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Books and mode of keeping accounts may be prescribed. |
23. A plan of account books and accounts, adapted to the requirements of each service, in order to exhibit, in a convenient form, the whole of the receipts and payments in respect of each vote, shall be designed under the superintendence of the Treasury; and Her Majesty may from time to time, by Order in Council, prescribe the manner in which each department of the public service shall keep its accounts. | |
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Charge and discharge sides of account. |
24. An appropriation account of supply grants shall exhibit on the charge side thereof the sum or sums appropriated by Parliament for the service of the financial year to which the account relates, and on the discharge side thereof the sums which may have actually come in course of payment within the same period; and no imprest or advance, of the application of which an account may not have been rendered to and allowed by the accounting department, shall be included on the discharge side thereof. | |
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Balance sheet or statement showing the disposition of balance. |
25. The department charged with the duty of preparing the appropriation account of a grant shall, if required so to do by the Comptroller and Auditor General, transmit to him, together with the annual appropriation account of such grant, a balance sheet so prepared as to show the debtor and creditor balances in the ledgers of such department on the day when the said appropriation account was closed, and to verify the balances appearing upon the annual appropriation account: Provided always, that the Comptroller and Auditor General may, if he thinks fit, require the said department to transmit to him in lieu of such balance sheet a certified statement showing the actual disposition of the balances appearing upon the annual appropriation account on the last day of the period of such account. | |
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Appropriation account to be accompanied by statement explaining disposal of balances and cause of excesses. |
26. Every appropriation account when rendered to the Comptroller and Auditor General shall be accompanied by an explanation showing how the balance or balances on the grant or grants included in the previous account have been adjusted, and shall also contain an explanatory statement of any excess of expenditure over the grant or grants included in such account; and such statement, as well as the appropriation account, shall be signed by such department. | |
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Examination of appropriation accounts. |
27. Every appropriation account shall be examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General on behalf of the House of Commons; and in the examination of such accounts the Comptroller and Auditor General shall ascertain, first, whether the payments which the accounting department has charged to the grant are supported by vouchers or proofs of payments, and, second, whether the money expended has been applied to the purpose or purposes for which such grant was intended to provide: Provided always, and it is hereby enacted, that whenever the said Comptroller and Auditor General shall be required by the Treasury to ascertain whether the expenditure included or to be included in an appropriation account, or any portion of such expenditure, is supported by the authority of the Treasury, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine such expenditure with that object, and shall report to the Treasury any expenditure which may appear, upon such examination, to have been incurred without such authority; and if the Treasury should not thereupon see fit to sanction such unauthorized expenditure, it shall be regarded as being not properly chargeable to a parliamentary grant, and shall be reported to the House of Commons in the manner herein-after provided. | |
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The Comptroller and Auditor General to have access to books of account, &c. in the accounting departments. |
28. In order that such examination may as far as possible proceed pari passu with the cash transactions of the several accounting departments, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall have free access, at all convenient times, to the books of account and other documents relating to the accounts of such departments, and may require the several departments concerned to furnish him from time to time, or at regular periods, with accounts of the cash transactions of such departments respectively up to such times or periods. | |
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Examination of vouchers of appropriation accounts included in schedule (B.) |
29. In conducting the examination of the vouchers relating to the appropriation of the grants for the several services enumerated in schedule (B.) to this Act annexed, the Comptroller and Auditor General, after satisfying himself that the accounts bear evidence that the vouchers have been completely checked, examined, and certified as correct in every respect, and that they have been allowed and passed by the proper departmental officers, may admit the same as satisfactory evidence of payment in support of the charges to which they may relate: Provided always, that if the Treasury should desire any such vouchers to be examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General in greater detail, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall cause such vouchers to be subjected to such a detailed examination as the Treasury may think fit to prescribe. | |
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Examination of other vouchers. |
30. In conducting the examination of the vouchers relating to the appropriation of the grants for any services not enumerated in the aforesaid schedule, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall test the accuracy of the castings and computation of the several items of such vouchers: Provided always, that when any vouchers have been certified to be correct by any officers specially authorized to examine the same, it shall be lawful for the Comptroller and Auditor General, with the consent of the Treasury, to dispense with a second examination of the particular items of such vouchers. | |
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Objections by Comptroller and Auditor General to be reported to the accounting department, and in certain cases to the Treasury. |
31. If during the progress of the examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General herein-before directed any objections should arise to any item to be introduced into the appropriation account of any grant, such objections shall, not withstanding such account shall not have been rendered to him, be immediately communicated by him to the department concerned; and if the objections should not be answered to his satisfaction by such department, they shall be referred by him to the Treasury, and the Treasury shall determine in what manner the items in question shall be entered in the annual appropriation account. | |
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Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General. |
32. In reporting as herein-before directed, for the information of the House of Commons, the result of the examination of the appropriation accounts, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall prepare reports on the appropriation account of the Army and on that of the Navy separately. | |
He shall prepare a report on the appropriation accounts of the departments of Customs, Inland Revenue, and Post Office. | ||
He shall prepare a report or reports on the accounts relating to the several grants included within each of the classes into which the grants for Civil Services are divided in the Appropriation Act. | ||
In all reports as aforesaid he shall call attention to every case in which it may appear to him that a grant has been exceeded, or that money received by a department from other sources than the grants for the year to which the account relates has not been applied or accounted for according to the directions of Parliament, or that a sum charged against a grant is not supported by proof of payment, or that a payment so charged did not occur within the period of the account, or was for any other reason not properly chargeable against the grant. | ||
If the Treasury shall not within the time prescribed by this Act present to the House of Commons any report made by the Comptroller and Auditor General on any of the appropriation accounts, or on the accounts of issues for Consolidated Fund services, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall forthwith present such report. | ||
Accounts other than Appropriation Accounts. | ||
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Accounts other than appropriation accounts to be examined, under Treasury directions, by the Comptroller and Auditor General. |
33. [1] Besides the appropriation accounts of the grants of Parliament, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine and audit, if required so to do by the Treasury, and in accordance with any regulations that may be prescribed for his guidance in that behalf by the Treasury, the following accounts; viz., the accounts of all principal accountants, the accounts of the receipt of revenue by the departments of Customs, Inland Revenue, and Post Office, the accounts of every receiver of money which is by law payable into Her Majesty’s Exchequer, and any other public accounts which, though not relating directly to the receipt or expenditure of imperial funds, the Treasury may by minute, to be laid before Parliament, direct. | |
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By whom such accounts shall be rendered. |
34. The accounts which by the last preceding section the Treasury are empowered to subject to the examination of the Comptroller and Auditor General shall be rendered to him by the departments or officers who may be directed so to do by the Treasury; and the term “accountant,” when used in this and the following sections of this Act with reference to any such accounts, shall be taken to mean the department or officer that may be so required by the Treasury to render the same; and every public officer into whose hands public moneys, either in the nature of revenue or fees of office, shall be paid by persons bound by law or regulation to do so, or by subordinate or other officers, whose duty it may be to pay such moneys, wholly or in part, into the receipt of Her Majesty’s Exchequer, or to apply the same to any public service, shall, at such times and in such form as the Treasury shall determine, render an account of his receipts and payments to the Comptroller and Auditor General; and it shall be the duty of the Treasury to inform him of the appointment of every such officer. | |
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Accountants to transmit their accounts, &c. to Comptroller and Auditor General under prescribed regulations. |
35. Accountants shall transmit their accounts, together with the authorities and vouchers relating thereto, to the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, in such form, and for such periods, and under such regulations as he may from time to time prescribe for the guidance of such accountants: Provided always, that no such regulations shall be obligatory on such accountants until they shall have been approved by the Treasury. | |
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As to the examination and passing of accounts. |
36. The Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine the several accounts transmitted to him with as little delay as possible; and when the examination of each account shall be completed he shall make up a statement thereof in such form as he may deem fit; and if it shall appear from the statement so made up of any account, being an account current, that the balance thereon agrees with the accountant’s balance, or if it shall appear from any account rendered by an accountant, as well as from the statement of such account by the Comptroller and Auditor General, that the accountant is “even and quit,” the Comptroller and Auditor General is hereby required to sign and pass such statement of account so made up by him as aforesaid: Provided always, that in all other cases whatever the Comptroller and Auditor General, having made up the statement of account as herein-before directed, shall transmit the same to the Treasury, who, having considered such statement, shall return it to him, with their warrant attached thereto, directing him to sign and pass the account, either conformably to the statement thereof, or with such alterations as the Treasury may deem just and reasonable; and a statement of the account made up by the Comptroller and Auditor General, in accordance with such Treasury warrant, shall then be signed and passed by him: Provided further, that a list of all accounts which the Comptroller and Auditor General may sign and pass (such list to be so prepared as to show thereon the charge, discharge, and balance of each account respectively) shall be submitted by him to the Treasury twice in every year, videlicet, not later than the first week of February and the first week of August. | |
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Vouchers may be allowed, though not stamped. |
37. It shall be lawful for the Comptroller and Auditor General, in the examination of any accounts, to admit and allow, in cases where it shall appear to him to be reasonable and expedient for the public service, vouchers for any moneys expressed therein, although such vouchers be not stamped according to law. | |
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Certificates of discharge to be delivered to accountants. |
38. As soon as any account shall have been signed and passed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, he shall transmit to the accountant a certificate, in which the total amount of the sums forming respectively the charge and discharge of such account, and the balance, if any, remaining due to or by such accountant, shall be set forth; and every such certificate shall be signed by him, and shall be valid and effectual to discharge the accountant, as the case may be, either wholly, or from so much of the amount with which he may have been chargeable as he may appear by such certificate to be discharged from: Provided always, that when any account, not being an account current, has been signed and passed by the Comptroller and Auditor General with a balance due thereon to the Crown, he shall not make out or grant any such certificate as aforesaid until the accountant has satisfied him either that he has discharged the full amount of such balance, and any interest that may, as herein-after provided, be payable thereon, or that he has been relieved from the payment thereof, or of so much thereof as has not been paid, by a warrant from the Treasury. | |
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Statements of account to be recorded in office of Comptroller, &c. |
39. . . . every statement of an account made out, signed, and passed as aforesaid, shall be recorded in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the recording of such statement of account in his office shall be as valid and effectual for enabling any process in the law against the party chargeable, and any other proceeding for the recovery of any balances and any interest thereon, and for all other purposes, as the enrolment of a declared account in the office of Her Majesty’s Remembrancer would have been if this Act had not been passed; and a copy, certified under the hands of the Comptroller and Auditor General, of the record of any such statement of account shall be taken notice of and proceeded upon in the like manner as the record of any such declared account, enrolled as aforesaid, might have been if this Act had not been passed. | |
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Examination and passing of store accounts. |
40. In all cases where the Comptroller and Auditor General shall be required by the Treasury to examine and audit the accounts of the receipt, expenditure, sale, transfer, or delivery of any securities, stamps, Government stock or annuities, provisions, or stores, the property of Her Majesty, he shall, on the examination of such accounts being completed, transmit a statement thereof, or a report thereon, to the Treasury, who shall, if they think fit, signify their approval of such accounts to him; and he shall thereupon transmit to the accountant a certificate, in a form to be from time to time determined by the Comptroller and Auditor General, which shall be to such accountant a valid and effectual discharge from so much as he may thereby appear to be discharged from. | |
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Payment over of balances on accounts, and recovery of balances improperly retained. |
41. Every accountant shall, on the termination of his charge as such accountant, or in case of a deceased accountant his representatives shall forthwith pay over any balance of public money then due to the public in respect of such charge to the public officer authorized to receive the same; and in all cases in which it shall appear to the Comptroller and Auditor General that balances of public money have been improperly and unnecessarily retained by an accountant, he shall report the circumstances of such cases to the Treasury; and the Treasury shall take such measures as to them may seem expedient for recovering by legal process, or by other lawful ways and means, the amount of such balance or balances, together with interest thereon, upon the whole or part of such balance or balances, for such period of time and at such rate, not exceeding five pounds per centum per annum, as to the Treasury may appear just and reasonable. | |
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Provision where the estate of a public accountant is sold under writ of extent, &c. |
42. In all cases where any estate belonging to a public accountant shall be sold under any writ of extent or any decree or order of the Courts of Chancery or Exchequer, and the purchaser thereof or of any part thereof shall have paid his purchase money into the hands of any public accountant authorized to receive the same, such purchaser shall be wholly exonerated and discharged from all further claims of Her Majesty for or in respect of any debt arising upon the account of such accountant, although the purchase money so paid be not sufficient in amount to discharge the whole of the said debt. | |
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Accountants to have in all cases of disallowance or charge a right of appeal to the Treasury. |
43. In all cases in which an accountant may be dissatisfied with any disallowance or charge in his accounts made by the Comptroller and Auditor General, such accountant shall have a right of appeal to the Treasury, who, after such further investigation as they may consider equitable, whether by vivâ voce examination or otherwise, may make such order, directing the relief of the appellant wholly or in part from the disallowance or charge in question, as shall appear to them to be just and reasonable, and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall govern himself accordingly. | |
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The Treasury may dispense with the examination of certain accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General. |
44. It shall be lawful for the Treasury from time to time, if they see fit so to do, to dispense with the transmission to the Comptroller and Auditor General of any accounts not being accounts of the receipt and expenditure of public money, and with the audit of such accounts by him, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided always, that copies of any Treasury minutes dispensing with the audit of such accounts shall be laid before Parliament. | |
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Saving of existing rights of the Crown. |
45. Nothing in this Act contained shall extend to abridge or alter the rights and powers of Her Majesty to control, suspend, or prevent the execution of any process or proceeding, under this Act or otherwise, for recovering money due to the Crown. | |
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Audit of accounts directed to be audited by Board of Audit. 28 & 29 Vict. c. 73. |
46. . . . all accounts required or directed to be audited by the Board of Audit shall be audited according to the provisions of this Act: But nothing herein shall be deemed to confer upon the Treasury the powers with respect to audit vested in the Admiralty by the Greenwich Hospital Act, 1865. . . . | |
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Commencement of Act. |
47. This Act shall commence on the first day of April one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven. | |
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Schedule A. | ||
Sect. 22 . | ||
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Schedule B. | ||
Sect. 29 . | ||
Army; | ||
Navy; | ||
and such other Services as the Treasury, by their minute, to be laid before Parliament, may direct; but no such minute shall take effect until it shall have lain before the House of Commons thirty days, unless it shall have been previously approved by a resolution of the House of Commons. | ||
[Sched. C. rep. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 14. (S.L.R.)] | ||
[1 This Act is to apply to certain accounts of Chelsea Hospital, 39 & 40 Vict. 14. s. 1.] |
