Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866

27 In what manner the examination of appropriation accounts shall be conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Every appropriation account shall be examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General on behalf of the House of Commons; and in the examination of such accounts the Comptroller and Auditor General shall ascertain, first, whether the payments which the accounting department has charged to the grant are supported by vouchers or proofs of payments, and, second, whether the money expended has been applied to the purpose or purposes for which, such grant was intended to provide : Provided always, and it is hereby enacted, that whenever the said Comptroller and Auditor General shall be required by the Treasury to ascertain whether the expenditure included or to be included in an appropriation account, or any portion of such expenditure, is supported by the authority of the Treasury, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine such expenditure with that object, and shall report to the Treasury any expenditure which may appear, upon such examination, to have been incurred without such authority ; and if the Treasury should not thereupon see fit to sanction such unauthorised expenditure, it shall be regarded as being not properly chargeable to a Parliamentary grant, and shall be reported to the House of Commons in the manner herein-after provided.