This article will address the issue of Commissioners of Audit, which is of utmost importance today. Commissioners of Audit is a topic that has aroused great interest in various fields, whether in the academic, scientific, social or cultural fields. Throughout history, Commissioners of Audit has been the subject of study and debate, generating conflicting opinions and various investigations that have expanded our knowledge on this topic. In this sense, it is relevant to analyze the different perspectives that exist around Commissioners of Audit, as well as the implications it has in today's society. In addition, the advances and challenges that Commissioners of Audit currently faces will be explored, as well as the possible solutions and responses to the problems it raises.
The Commissioners of Audit had responsibility from 1785 to 1866 for the auditing of public accounts in the United Kingdom.
In 1785 a Commission for Auditing the Public Accounts was established by statute, replacing the Auditors of the Imprest. Its members, the Commissioners of Audit, were five in number: three were appointed by letters patent, the other two were the Comptrollers of Army Accounts, who served ex officio. (Comptrollers of Army Accounts had first been appointed in 1703, to audit the accounts of all Army regiments and paymasters; their office was later abolished, in 1835, whereupon their duties were taken over by the Commissioners of Audit.)[1]
In 1806 the Commission was reconstituted with ten commissioners (no longer incorporating the ex officio members).[2] Over ensuing decades the size of the Commission gradually decreased as departing members were not always replaced. Under the terms of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, the offices of the Comptroller of the Exchequer and the Commissioners of Audit were merged and their duties vested in a new official: the Comptroller and Auditor General.[3] His office, the Exchequer and Audit Department, was reconstituted in 1984 as the National Audit Office.
| From | To | Name[2] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1785 | 1799 | Sir William Musgrave | |
| 1785 | 1806 | John Thomas Batt | |
| 1785 | 1805 | John Martin Leake | ex officio from 1794 |
| 1785 | 1802 | Sir John Dick | ex officio |
| 1785 | 1794 | William Molleson | ex officio |
| 1794 | 1799 | William Chamberlayne | |
| 1799 | 1802 | Reginald Pole Carew | |
| 1800 | 1806 | Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton | |
| 1802 | 1805 | John Erskine | ex officio |
| 1802 | 1806 | The Hon. Bartholomew Bouverie | |
| 1806 | 1821 | William Mackworth Praed (lawyer) | Chairman of the Commissioners, 1806-1821 |
| 1806 | 1818 | Francis Perceval Eliot | Previously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806 |
| 1806 | 1822 | Richard Dawkins | Previously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806 |
| 1806 | 1810 | Charles Moore | Previously an 'Additional Commissioner' 1805-1806 |
| 1806 | 1821 | John Sargent | |
| 1806 | 1819 | John Anstey | |
| 1806 | 1836 | John Whishaw | |
| 1806 | 1813 | Philip Deare | |
| 1806 | 1809 | Lewis Jenkins | |
| 1821 | 1827 | The Hon. Edward Richard Stewart | Chairman of the Commissioners, 1821-1827 |
| 1821 | 1823 | George Jenkinson | |
| 1821 | 1823 | Francis Seymour Larpent | (later reappointed as chairman) |
| 1821 | 1826 | John Thornton | |
| 1822 | 1849 | Henry Fownes Luttrell | |
| 1822 | 1835 | James Chapman | |
| 1824 | 1848 | Sir John Osborn | |
| 1826 | 1865 | Henry Arbuthnot | |
| 1827 | 1843 | Francis Seymour Larpent | Chairman of the Commissioners, 1827-1843 |
| 1835 | 1854 | Sir William Lewis Herries | Chairman of the Commissioners, 1843-1854 |
| 1836 | 1865 | Edward Romilly | Chairman of the Commissioners, 1854-1865 |
| 1843 | 1854 | Sir Alexander Cray Grant | |
| 1849 | 1860 | Charles Ross | |
| 1849 | 1867 | Richard Vaughan Davis | |
| 1854 | 1867 | William Leader Maberley | |
| 1865 | 1867 | Sir William Dunbar | Chairman of the Commissioners, 1865-1867; then appointed Comptroller and Auditor General |
| 1865 | 1867 | Charles Zachary Macaulay | |
| 1867 | 1867 | William George Anderson | Appointed Assistant Comptroller and Auditor General in 1867 |