[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback]
	Statutes of Northern Ireland
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Statutes of Northern Ireland >> URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/eaada1866308.txt

[New search] [Help]

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - LONG TITLE

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 1866]
The Act was repealed, so far as applicable to Irish services in
Northern Ireland, by the Exchequer and Financial Provisions Act
(Northern Ireland) 1926 (c.27)

Preamble rep. by SLR 1893

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 1
Short title.

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Exchequer and
Audit Departments Act, 1866."

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 2
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 3
Tenure of Comptroller and Auditor General.

3. ... The Comptroller and Auditor General ... 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
any peer of Parliament be capable of holding either of the said
offices.

S.4 rep. by 1950 c.3 s.4(2)

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 5
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same are not repealed or altered by this Act or any other Act of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 ....

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 6
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, ..., 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.

Ss.79 rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 10
Gross revenues to be paid to Exchequer, and daily returns to be
sent to Comptroller and Auditor General.

10. The Commissioners of Customs, [and the Commissioners of Inland
Revenue] shall, after deductions of the payments for 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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 11
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.

S.12 rep. by 1954 c.44 s.35(9) sch.6

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 13
Credits for services charged on the Consolidated Fund.

13. The Comptroller and Auditor General shall grant to the Treasury,
from time to time, on their requisitions authorizing the same ...,
credits on the Exchequer accounts at the Banks of England and
Ireland, or on the growing balances thereof ..., for services
payable under any Act out of ... the Consolidated Fund ...; 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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 14
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 15
Credits for ways and means granted to make good supplies granted by
Act or resolution.

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, navy and
air-force services] shall be made under the general [heads of "Army"
"Navy" and "Air Force"] 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. by 1875 c.45 s.6. S.17 rep. by 1889 c.53 s.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 18
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 19
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 Bank of Ireland, shall be consolidated in
such manner as they shall judge most convenient for the public
services.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 20
Accounts of stock may be opened in the books of the Banks under
official description of public officers.

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.

S.21 rep. by 1968 c.13 s.24 sch.6 Pt.I

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 22
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 ... 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 ...; 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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 23
Books and mode of keeping accounts may be prescribed.

23. A plan of account books and accounts, adapted to the
requirements of each service ..., shall be designed under the
superintendence of the Treasury; and [the Treasury may prescribe] the
manner in which each department of the public service shall keep
its accounts.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 24
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 25
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 26
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 grants
included in such account; and such statement, as well as the
appropriation account, shall be signed by such department.

S.27 rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 28
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 ... 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 ...
transactions of such departments respectively up to such times or
periods.

Ss.29, 30 rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 31
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, notwithstanding 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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 32
Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

32. ....

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.

S.33 rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 34
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 accountant] shall, at such
times and in such form as the Treasury shall determine, render an
account of his receipts and payments [together with the authorities
and vouchers relating thereto] 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.

Ss.35, 36 rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 37
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.

S.38 rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 39
Statements of account to be recorded in office of Comptroller, &c.

39. ... every statement of an account made out, [and certified] 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.

S.40 rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 41
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 42
Provision where the estate of a public accountant is sold under any
decree or order.

42. In all cases where any estate belonging to a public accountant
shall be sold under ... any decree or order of the [High Court],
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 43
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 viva8 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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 44
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 45
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.

EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENTS ACT 1866 - SECT 46
Audit of accounts directed to be audited by Board of Audit.

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 ....

S.47 rep. by SLR 1893

Revenue

Departments.

voted in supply.

Factories.

Manufacturing

accounts.

shipbuilding,

manufacturing,

trading or

commercial

accounts.

Schedule B rep. by 1921 c.52 s.10(2) sch.2. Schedule C rep. by SLR
1893