The Comptroller General of the State (IGAE) is a senior official of the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. The comptroller directs the Office of the Comptroller General of the State Administration, which is an internal supervisory agency with the task of supervising the state public administration and of managing the public accounts.
The Comptroller General is appointed by the
Monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
with the advice of the Finance Minister. The Comptroller General reports directly to the Under Secretary of Finance.
Purpose
The Comptroller oversees the IGAE agency, which has two core functions. Its primary function is that of a supervisory agency. It is responsible for verifying – through previous monitoring of legality, continuous
financial control Internal control, as defined by accounting and auditing, is a process for assuring of an organization's objectives in operational effectiveness and efficiency, reliable financial reporting, and compliance with laws, regulations and policies. A broad ...
,
public audits, and financial control of
subsidies
A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...
– that the public sector's economic and financial activity complies with the
principles of legality,
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
, efficiency and effectiveness.
Its second function is to act as the center for the management of
public accounts. It is responsible for providing reliable, complete, professional and independent accounting information about public management. In this regard, it is responsible for drafting the public sector's financial accounts according to the guidance set out by the
European System of Accounts The European System of Accounts (ESA) is the system of national accounts and regional accounts used by members of the European Union. It was most recently updated in 2010 (ESA 2010).
The ESA 95 is fully consistent with the United Nations System of ...
. The most specific result of this is the determination of
public deficit
Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budget ...
, which is essential to the nation's economic life. It calculates the deficit for the
central government
A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
and each of its sub-sectors.
Organisation
A large number of officials and administrative bodies depend upon the Comptroller General. To carry out its functions, the IGAE agency has delegations known as Comptroller Delegations ( es, Intervenciónes delegates) in all the
General State Administration
The General State Administration ( es, Administración General del Estado) is one of the Public Administrations of Spain. It is the only administration with powers throughout the national territory and it is controlled by the central government.
...
departments, including
ministerial departments, public agencies and regional and local administrations. In addition, the law specifies that certain government bodies must have integrated delegations:
Ministry of Defence
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A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
(
IGD),
Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
(
IGSS), the
General Secretariat for the Treasury and International Financing, and the Directorate-General for Personnel Costs and Public Pensions.
In addition to the bodies mentioned above, the IGAE agency is divided into seven large departments:
* The National Audit Office, further divided into five division.
* The National Accounting Office, divided into three divisions.
* The Deputy Directorate-General for Intervention and Control.
* The Deputy Directorate-General for Studies and Coordination.
* The Deputy Directorate-General for Organization, Planning and Resource Management.
* The Budgetary Computing Office, divided into four divisions.
* The National Anti-Fraud Coordination Service.
It is also supported by a dedicated technical office.
List of Comptrollers General
References
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Government audit officials
Auditing organizations
Financial regulatory authorities of Spain
Auditing in Spain
Government agencies of Spain