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Public spending & reporting
Accounting Officers and the Treasury’s role
10 January 2011
Each organisation in central Government (Department, Agency, Trading Fund, NHS body, NDPB or significant Arm’s Length Body) must have an Accounting Officer - usually the senior official in the organisation.
The Accounting Officer acts within the authority of the Minister, but they separately have personal responsibility to Parliament for the management and organisation of the Department, including the use of public money and the stewardship of its assets. This includes propriety and regularity; prudent and economical administration; avoidance of waste and extravagance; efficient and effective use of available resources; and the organisation, staffing and management of the Department. It is the Accounting Officer who has to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) to give evidence of their and their Department’s performance.
Legislation
The Treasury has responsibility, under the Government Resources and Accounts Act (GRAA) 2000, for appointing an Accounting Officer to each Departmental Resource Account and discretion to appoint Accounting Officers to parts of a Departmental Resource Account. Additionally, the Treasury has oversight on appointments from Machinery of Government changes.
The Treasury has responsibility, under the Government Trading Funds Act (GFTA) 1973, (as amended in the Government Trading Act 1990 and the Finance Acts 1991 and 1993) for appointing an Accounting Officer to each Trading Fund.
By established convention, the Treasury also appoints Accounting Officers to certain distinct revenue and expenditure streams (colloquially known as “White Paper Accounts”) not otherwise covered by the GRAA 2000 or GTFA 1973.
Departments are responsible for appointing Accounting Officers for their Executive Agencies and for designating Accounting Officers in the Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs). However, the Treasury maintains policy oversight throughout.
Information on the Accounting Officer’s role and responsibilities can be found in chapter 3 of the Treasury guidance publication Managing Public Money.
If you have any questions on Accounting Officer appointments, please contact: David Barton on 020 7270 5365 or Adrian Baxter on 020 7270 5498.
The documents are available below for information in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.
Media links
- Model Resource Accounts appointment letter (PDF 86KB)
- Model Trading Fund appointment letter (PDF 83KB)
- Model NDPB appointment letter (PDF 83KB)
For Machinery of Government Changes, please refer to the Cabinet Office Best Practice Handbook. Part 2 - Finance and Resource Transfers - advises on Accounting Officer Appointments.
Related links
- Regularity, Propriety and Value for Money
- Guide to Scrutiny of Public Expenditure
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