The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Contraloría General de la República de Colombia) is a Colombian independent government institution that acts as the highest form of fiscal control in the country. As such, it has a mission to seek the proper allocation of resources and public funds and contribute to the modernization of the state, by means of continuous improvement in the various public entities. It is one of the

Colombian Control Institutions Colombian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Colombia * Colombians, persons from Colombia, or of Colombian descent **For more information about the Colombian people, see: *** Demographics of Colombia *** Indigenous p ...

along with the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia.

History

In 1923, after several years of financial crisis, President

Pedro Nel Ospina Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

requested an expert committee to study Colombian economic conditions. This committee, led by American economist

Edwin Walter Kemmerer Edwin Walter Kemmerer (June 29, 1875 – December 16, 1945) was an American economist, who became famous as an economic adviser to foreign governments in many countries (Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Germany, Chile, South Africa, Pola ...

(known as ''The Money Doctor'') was called the Kemmerer Mission. Kemmerer had already worked with Latin American governments; that of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1917 and of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

in 1919. Up until then the Court of Auditors ( es, Corte de Cuentas) was the accountability agency of the nation, it was an agency of judicial and fiscal nature, but it was part of the

Executive Branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...

. A study led by the Kemmerer Mission, with the assistance of the Colombian Finance Minister Esteban Jaramillo, recommended Congress to create the

Bank of the Republic The Bank of the Republic ( es, Banco de la República) is the central bank of Colombia. It was initially established under the regeneration era in 1880. Its main modern functions, under the new Colombian constitution were detailed by Congress ...

, and the Office of the Comptroller General, and to structure the laws for this function using those already existing. The Kemmerer Mission recommended the creation of the Office of the Comptroller General after considering that it could establish the necessary means for imposing a strict observance of the laws and administrative norms in the management of resources and public funds. Government introduced new legislation in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

following the recommendations of the Kemmerer Mission. '' Law 42 of 1923'' was passed by Congress, being signed by the

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

Luis de Greiff, and the President of the Chamber of Representatives Ignacio Moreno. The new law was approved and signed by President Nel Ospina and his Minister of Finance Gabriel Posada, and finally ratified by Congress on July 19, 1923. The Office of the Comptroller General began functioning on September 1, 1923, when Law 42 took effect. The first Comptroller General of the Republic was Eugenio Andrade, who was appointed by President Ospina. The current Comptroller General is Carlos Felipe Córdoba Larrarte.

References

{{Authority control Government agencies established in 1923 Colombian Control Institutions Supreme audit institutions