Commissioners of Audit
The Commissioners of Audit had responsibility from 1785 to 1866 for the auditing of public accounts in the United Kingdom.History
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.
In 1806 the Commission was reconstituted with ten commissioners. 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. His office, the Exchequer and Audit Department, was reconstituted in 1984 as the National Audit Office.
