The comptroller's office is a body dedicated to supervising state expenditures.
The concept of comptrollership is used in Latin America . The term refers to the body that is dedicated to reviewing State expenses , supervising that they are correct and that they are within the legal framework.
Depending on the country, the comptroller may work in different ways and have different powers. It is common for the organization to be called the comptroller general , while the person who directs its actions is the comptroller (or comptroller general ).
Comptroller's function
Similar to a Court of Accounts , the comptroller's office is a higher-level auditing entity . Said inspection consists of studying state financial management to control how budgets are executed and how public funds are administered.
The comptroller's reports , in this framework, serve to determine the accounting responsibility of officials. The liability in question, meanwhile, can be direct or subsidiary.
The objective of a comptroller's office, ultimately, is to guarantee the appropriate use of public resources. That is why this type of institution is of great importance.
In Colombia
The Comptroller General of the Republic of Colombia , created in 1923 , is among the oldest on the American continent. Called the Comptroller Department at first, in the period 2018-2022 it is in charge of Carlos Felipe Córdoba , who must supervise the control of the finances of the Judicial Branch , the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch .
To study its origins, we must go back to the Court of the Royal Court of Santo Domingo , about four centuries older, and the later Court of Accounts of Santa Fe de Bogotá , from the beginning of the 15th century, which arose with the support of Philip III from Spain. The creation of this comptroller's office took place during the mandate of Pedro Nel Ospina , a member of the Conservative Party, who also participated in the process of reorganization of public finances, including the birth of the Bank of the Republic .
In Cuba
Much more modern is the General Comptroller's Office of the Republic of Cuba , which was established in August 2009 . It is an entity subordinate to the National Assembly of People's Power that, according to its statutes, monitors how public assets are administered to combat corruption .
In the Constitution of that year, it was established as the state body whose objective is to guarantee a fair and transparent administration of public funds , as well as more effective control of administrative management. Some of the old institutions that used to perform the same functions are the following: Court of Accounts, Board of Directors, Comptroller General of the Republic, Ministry of Recovery of Embezzled Assets, State Finance Committee and Ministry of Audit and Control.
It can be said that a comptroller's office is a supervisory entity.
In Chile
The Chilean supreme audit entity is the Comptroller General of the Republic , which has constitutional rank and enjoys autonomy. Its role, similar to the previous ones, consists of controlling the legality of all Public Administration procedures, as well as the investment and income of municipal and fiscal funds. He must also study the accounts of those who own municipal and fiscal assets in his charge, be in charge of the general accounting of the country and fulfill other tasks entrusted to him by law.
Although it was only with the decree of March 1927 that this comptroller's office adopted the form it has today, since 1541 there have been examples of other organizations with similar functions. When the colonizers established themselves in Chilean territory, the Santiago council appointed four officials to ensure that the Royal Banks were used correctly. The first entity with its own name was the Royal Court and Chancellery , founded in 1567.