S.L. 601.1 Art. 4Duties of Accountant General.

It shall be the duty of the Accountant General in his capacity as chief accounting officer -

(a) to see that the proper system of account is established in every department and to ensure that instructions are issued accordingly;

(b) to exercise supervision over the receipts of public revenue and as far as possible to secure its punctual collection;

(c) to bring promptly to account, under the proper heads and sub-heads, all moneys, whether revenue or other receipts, paid into the Treasury or accounted to him;

(d) to ensure that proper provision is made for the safe keeping of all public moneys, stamps, entertainment duty tickets, securities and valuable documents;

(e) to exercise supervision over all the officers of his department entrusted with the receipt or expenditure of public moneys, and over the accounting officers, and to take precautions, by the maintenance of efficient checks, including surprise inspections, against the occurrence of fraud, embezzlement or negligence;

(f) to supervise the expenditure and other disbursements of the Government; to take care that no payment is made which is not covered by proper authority, expressed or referred to on the voucher relating to it; and, in case of any apparent extravagance or of any apparent defect in the provision for a charge owing to the exhaustion or absence of a vote, to call the attention of Government in writing to the matter;

(g) promptly to charge in his accounts under the proper heads and items all disbursements of the Government, whether expenditure or other payments; and

(h) to render the accounts for audit and to prepare the financial statements and returns.