functions of the Audit Office. Enlarged accounts connected with the permanent charges on the Consolidated Fund, the accounts relating to the receipts of money payable into the Exchequer, and the whole of the accounts relating to the voted services. In addition to this, it is provided by section 33 of the said Act, that the Treasury shall have the power, in case of any other accounts coming before them which, on public grounds, they might consider it desirable to subject to revision, to refer the same to the Audit Office for examination, even though they did not relate to the receipt and expenditure of public imperial funds. It has been suggested, however, by officers of the board and others, that this power should only be exercised in rare and peculiar cases, and that as a rule the labours of the commissioners should be as much as possible confined to the business of examining accounts relating to the receipt, issue, and expenditure of imperial funds. Audit of fees. Indepen tion of the Audit It is furthermore provided by section 34 of this Act, that all public officers who are in the receipt of fees shall account for the same to the Audit Office. But this security is confessedly inadequate as a means of ascertaining whether all the fees received in any public department are brought to credit. All it can accomplish is to provide that all the fees brought to credit are duly accounted for. The check upon receipts must necessarily be conducted by some efficient system of check and counter-check in the department itself. This Act, which substitutes a comptroller and dent posi- auditor-general for the Board of Audit, and subjects the whole public expenditure to the operation of the 'Appropriation Audit,' will undoubtedly impart new life and vigour into the system of auditing the public accounts. Independently of the advantages to be anticipated from the general application of the appro der the new Act. f Com. Pap. 1866, v. 7. (Excheq. and Audit Bill) Evid. 241-257. But see Treasury Minute of March 2,1867. Com. Pap. 1867, v. 39, p. 337, &c. 8 Com. Pap. 1866, v. 7, p. 540. Evid. 233–240. priation audit to every branch of the public expenditure, a point to be hereafter specially noticed, much benefit will result from the greater degree of independence assigned to the audit officers over that which they previously enjoyed. It is true that the Treasury is still empowered to appoint, from time to time, such officers as may be required for conducting the business of the department, their number and salaries being regulated by order in council. But this power is conferred upon the Treasury in order that there may be some member of the government, having a seat in the House of Commons, responsible for such appointments." And, on the other hand, the comptroller and auditor-general is authorised to promote, suspend, or remove, any of the employés in his department; to make rules for the conduct of business therein; and (subject to the approval of the Treasury) to establish regulations for the guidance of all public accountants i mental In proceeding to define, more particularly, the func- Departtions which appertain to the Audit Office, as a depart- audit. ment for examining and verifying the public accounts, it should be premised that, irrespective of the operations of this board, every department in the state is bound to apply to their expenditure some sort of check or departmental audit, whether their accounts are examined by independent auditors or not.j The accounts of the Foreign Office were not audited by the Audit Board, but by the permanent under-secretary of state for foreign affairs. But under the provisions of the Public Moneys and Accounts Act of 1866, it is provided that, from April 1, 1867, these accounts shall be subjected to the appropriation audit, and to the revision of the comptroller and auditor-general.1 And in addition to the check to which public ac h Hans. D. v. 182, p. 1864. Rep. Come. Pub. Accts. (Excheq. and Audit Bill), Evid. 291303. Com. Pap. 1866, v. 7. 1 Ib. 1865, v. 10. Evid. 289. Hans. D. v. 179, p. 1100. See Special Rep. from Com. on Adminis trative audit. counts may be subjected in the department to which they relate, all accounts of public expenditure are liable to two kinds of audit-1. The administrative audit; 2. The appropriation audit. The administrative audit, as its name imports, is conducted on behalf of the Treasury, with a view to purposes which are purely administrative. Until recently, this was the only kind of audit applied to the public accounts; and it is still the only check which is applied to the miscellaneous civil service accounts, with certain exceptions to be hereafter noticed. This audit. may be conducted by any persons whom the Treasury shall appoint; in fact, it is sometimes conducted by the paymaster in Scotland, by the paymaster-general, by the Board of Trade, and even by the Treasury itself. But it has been usually conducted by the Board of Audit, acting exclusively on behalf of the Treasury, and with a view to enable the Treasury to maintain their legitimate authority and control over the various departments of expenditure." The board has no authority to apply this audit to the public expenditure generally, but only to such accounts as they may be directed by the Treasury to examine. Apart from the mere business of checking the accounts, it is the main duty of the board, in conducting this audit, to determine whether the departmental expenditure has been in accordance with Treasury instructions, whether special or general. After receiving the auditor's report, it becomes the duty of the Treasury to decide what should be done in respect to any irregularity, or departure from the directions of the Treasury, that may be pointed out therein." m It is not a little curious, that amongst the numerous Appended to the Fifth Rep. of the Pub. Accts. Come. for 1861 is a table of the accounts which are audited by the Audit Board, and of those which are audited by other departments. tion of the trative audit. statutory provisions relating to the administrative audit, Imperfecnone can be found which imposes on the auditors the adminisduty of questioning, or even of noticing, any expenditure it. that may have been incurred in excess of a parliamentary vote, or in respect of a service for which no appropriation whatever had been made. This left the door open for much abuse, and enabled the Treasury to expend money which had been granted for one service for entirely different purposes, without fear of detection or censure by Parliament. Sometimes it happened, however, that such reckless and extravagant expenditure was incurred, more particularly on behalf of the army or navy, as to call for the special interposition of Parliament. For example, the Admiralty account, for a series of years prior to 1831, was systematically misappropriated. It was not until the year 1832 that a partial remedy was found for this evil, by the introduction of a new description of audit, which will now engage our attention. b. THE NATURE AND OPERATION OF THE APPROPRIATION AUDIT. the appro It reflects the highest credit upon the government Origin of that we are indebted, for this important administrative priation reform, to one who held at the time a prominent office in the state." In 1876 the Committee on Public Accounts presented three Reports. The third points out that ever since the year 1868, the Committee on Public Accounts had repeatedly urged that the present mode of examining the military and naval expenditure was in Rep. Come. Pub. Accts. App. p. 119, Com. Pap. 1825, v. 10. P 3 Hatsell, pp. 209–211. Rep. Come. Pub. Accts. p. 119, Com. Pap. 1865, v. 10. See Correspondence, &c. Exchq. and Audit Depts. Act, 1866, Com. Pap. 1867, v. 33, p. 176. For particulars as to reform effected by Appropriation Audit of audit. Report tee Public Accounts, 1876. sufficient. In this opinion the Treasury entirely agree, notwithstanding the arguments which have been urged to the contrary by high authorities. Up to 1866, indeed, military and naval expenditure alone (with some trifling exceptions) was subjected to an audit on behalf of Parliament. Other branches of the public expenditure, though carefully audited on behalf of the Treasury, were, as far as concerned Parliament, absolutely unaudited, before the passing of the Exchequer and Audit Act. In framing that statute, Parliament took for its model the Acts of 1832 and 1846, for the audit of naval and military expenditure. But the audit applied to the accounts of the Civil and Revenue departments under that Act has been improved and perfected within the past ten years, while that applied to the military and naval expenditure has remained unchanged. Thus the system, which in 1866 was the most thorough in use in the public service, has in 1876 become the least complete, and the most in need of revision. Few persons are aware of the revolution in the public accounts that has taken place under the Exchequer and Audit Act, through the reports of the comptroller and auditor-general, addressed to the House of Commons. These reports are submitted to the judgment of the Public Accounts Committee, and every irregularity, which in former days would have been hidden within the walls of a department, is examined and reported on, and the financial administration of the civil departments is thus subjected to public criticism. So that if the first lord of the treasury, or a secretary of state, should order expenditure contrary to an Act of Parliament, or to the established rules of the service, or of the department over which he presides, the fact is certain to be made known to Parliament by the independent auditor in his report upon the appropriation account of the vote to which such expenditure is charged. The lords of the treasury gratefully acknowledge the efficacy of the independent audit administered by the comptroller and auditorgeneral, and the readiness with which the departments have accepted and thoroughly carried out the principles of the new system; and if, on the one hand, the responsibility of the Treasury to Parliament for financial order throughout the service has been rigidly enforced, on the other hand the Treasury have, with the co-operation of the comptroller and auditor-general, been enabled to exercise, far more completely than previously, the control entrusted to them by constitutional usage, and which is essential to the maintenance of that financial order for which they are responsible. Having received from the various departments charged with the expenditure of the several supply grants of each year, accounts of the appropriation thereof, it becomes the duty of the comptroller and auditor-general to examine them on behalf of the House of Commons, for the purpose |