The Comptroller of the Treasury was an official of the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
from 1789 to 1817. According to section III of the Act of Congress establishing the Treasury Department, it is the
comptroller's duty to
:''superintend the adjustment and preservation of the public accounts; to examine all accounts settled by the
Auditor
An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...
, and certify the balances arising thereon to the
Register; to countersign all
warrants drawn by the
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
, which shall be warranted by law; to report to the Secretary the official forms of all papers to be issued in the different offices for collecting the public
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
, and the manner and form of keeping and stating the accounts of the several persons employed therein. He shall moreover provide for the regular and punctual payment of all monies which may be collected, and shall direct
prosecution
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...
s for all delinquencies of officers of the revenue, and for
debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
s that are, or shall be due to the United States.''
The first person to hold this office was Nicholas Eveleigh.
[Heidler, David S. and Jeanne T. Washington’s Circle: The Creation of the President. New York: Random House, 2015.] It was also held for a time by
Gabriel Duvall, who would later serve on the
Supreme Court of the United States. The office was later several times renamed. It was the First Comptroller of the Treasury (1817–20), the Agent of the Treasury (1820–30), and
Solicitor of the Treasury (1830–1934), and is now the
Office of the General Counsel
An office is a space where an Organization, organization's employees perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize objects and Goals, plans, action theory, goals of the organizati ...
.
References
External links
Fact sheet on the Act of Congress establishing the Treasury Department
{{US-gov-stub
Eveleigh's biographic note on the web page for the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774 - Present
https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=E000263