Comptroller and auditor-general is the abbreviated title of a government official in a number of jurisdictions, including the UK, the Republic of Ireland, India, and China. (Cf. list below)
Other jurisdictions use the similar titles Comptroller general or auditor general to refer to a similar office. These are titles of high level government officials (titles of Heads of Supreme Audit Institutions), see the list in International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.
The comptroller and auditor-general role was first created in the United Kingdom by the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866 which combined the functions of the comptroller-general of the exchequer, (who had authorised the issue of public monies to departments since 1834) with those of the commissioners of audit, (who had traditionally presented the government accounts to the treasury).[1] Under the terms of the act the comptroller and auditor-general continued to authorise the issue of money to departments (the comptroller function) and was given the new task of examining departmental accounts and reporting the results to Parliament. The role has since been replicated in former commonwealth states, and separately adopted by China in the 1960s.
Each Canadian province and territory also has its own Auditor General.
In Colombia the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: Contraloría General de la República de Colombia) is an independent government institution that acts as the highest form of fiscal control in the country. As such, it has a mission to seek the proper allocation of resources and public funds.
Each Departmental Government has its own Controller General, and big cities such as Santiago de Cali also have a similar position for accountability purposes.
List of Comptroller and Auditor Generals Since 1923
Source: Dublin Castle
The unabbreviated title in the United Kingdom is Comptroller General of the Receipt and Issue of Her Majesty's Exchequer and Auditor General of Public Accounts.
Similarly, the Patent Office, sometimes unofficially known as the UK Intellectual Property Office, is headed by the Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.
The Comptroller General is the director of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an agency founded in 1921 to ensure the accountability of the federal government. Banks are supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an officer within the federal Department of The Treasury.[2]