The General Accounting Office is a part of the executive branch of the Chilean government based in chapter 10 of the Chilean Constitution and it is in charge of the control of the legal aspects, management, preaudit and postaudit functions of all the activities of the centralized and decentralized civil service, whatever its forms of organization may be, as well as of other powers granted by law.
Contents |
The Office of Comptroller General of the Republic (Oficina de la Contraloría General de la República) was designed by a United States economic adviser, Edwin Walter Kemmerer and adopted in the 1925 constitution. In 1943 it was upgraded to an autonomous government organ through an amendment to the constitution (Law 7,727) and was retained as such in the constitution of 1980.
Charged with serving as the government's auditor, it must take part in the approval or rejection of the revenue and investment accounts of public funds, scrutinizes the collection and expenditure of government funds by the National Treasury, the municipalities, and other state services as determined by law.
Over the years, the agency gained a reputation for insisting on strict conformity to the law, instilling respect in career officials and elected officials alike.
The General Accounting Office of the Republic is ranked fourth in the VI Barometer of Access to Public Information, study reflecting the perception the media has in terms of transparency and cooperation of various Agencies of public importance in the country. In 2008 the position of the Contraloría was five places lower.[1]
"The Comptroller General". Chile: A country study (Rex A. Hudson, ed.). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (1994). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.