Alabama. Office of State Comptroller

Source:

Alabama Government Manual, 1986.

The Office of State Comptroller is also known as the Dept. of Finance, Division of Control and Accounts. The office has responsibility for keeping those books, records, and accounts relating to finances of state government which are authorized or required to be kept by the Dept. of Finance, and issuing state expense and salary warrants drawn on the State treasury. The Division provides each state department or agency monthly reports on the status of their fund accounts and purchase order activity, encumbers funds of a department necessary to pay their purchase orders, and encumbers funds necessary to pay outstanding obligations unpaid at the end of the fiscal year.

From the description of Sub-agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145409260

Authority: Gen. Laws 1932, No. 37, pp. 35-48 (Extra Session).

The heading "Office of State Comptroller" is differentiated from the heading "Comptroller of Public Accounts" in this history for the following reasons. A Mississippi Territorial statute in 1806 provided for the appointment of an Auditor of Public Accounts (Toulmin, 1823, pp. 759-761). The Constitution of 1819, Article IV, Section 23, refers to a Comptroller of Public Accounts, and a statute in 1819 assigns the duties previously delegated to the Office of Auditor of Public Accounts to the Comptroller of Public Accounts (Acts 1819, p.47). The Constitution of 1868, Article V, Section 1, renames the office "Auditor," and the Constitution of 1875 calls the office "State Auditor." Therefore, although the duties of the two offices are related, this history treats the office of the Comptroller of Public Accounts as a predecessor of the office of the State Auditor.

The Office of State Comptroller was an executive department under the general control of the Governor. The State Comptroller was appointed by the Governor and held office at his pleasure.

The Budget and Financial Control Act of 1932 was enacted "to better secure the administration of financial affairs of the state." It vested in the Governor direct supervision over the finances of state agencies and created the Office of State Comptroller.

The Act abolished the Department of Examiners of Accounts, which became the Division of Departmental and County Audits in the Office. Duties of the State Auditor which related to bookkeeping, accounting, the settlement of accounts and claims (relating to refunding money for taxes erroneously paid and to settlements by officers charged with collecting revenues), and the making of financial reports were transferred to the State Comptroller. The Auditor would post-audit the accounts of the Office of State Comptroller. The State Board of Administration was relieved of auditing state claims and maintaining a central system of detail cost accounts for warrant expenditures. The personnel, appropriations, records, equipment, and other property of these agencies or divisions were assigned to the Office. In addition, the State Budget Commission was abolished and its records and property transferred to the State Comptroller. The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives were also transferred to the Office when the Legislature was not in session.

The State Comptroller was assigned the following duties: (1) to audit demands by the state and to pre-audit accounts submitted for payment; (2) to control the payment of money into the Treasury and from the Treasury by the preparation of appropriate warrants; (3) to prescribe accounting and business forms and the system of accounts and financial reporting by agencies other than the Legislature; (4) to keep the central budget and proprietary control accounts; (5) to establish a petty cash fund for each agency for emergency purposes, with provisions; (6) to prepare the budget and draft the legislation to make it effective; (7) to review requisitions for allotments as submitted to the Governor for approval; (8) to investigate the organization, activities, and procedures of agencies as required by the Governor or Legislature; (9) to furnish financial information to legislative committees as requested; (10) to make rules and regulations subject to the Governor's approval; (11) to report annually to the Governor and the Legislature of the state financial condition and operation, to make recommendations concerning legislation, and to make other reports as assigned; and (12) to perform other duties as required.

The annual report of the State Comptroller for fiscal year 1938 summarized his duties as follows: (1) to prepare and maintain the annual budget; (2) to audit county and state officials and state departments, agencies, boards, et cetera; (3) to receive and properly distribute all funds and to offer correct and authoritative accounting; (4) to examine and audit the monthly reports submitted by county and state revenue departments; and (5) to audit all claims against the state and to issue warrants in payment.

In relation to the budget, agencies transmitted estimates of their expenditure requirements for each fiscal year of the next quadrennium, together with supporting statements, to the State Comptroller. At the same time, the Comptroller prepared an estimate of total income, by agency and by source, for each fiscal year of the quadrennium and a comparison with the income received or estimated during the last quadrennium. The State Comptroller then prepared a tentative budget. He also recorded allotments and was governed accordingly in his control of expenditures.

The Office of State Comptroller was transferred to the Department of Finance when it was created in 1939 (Acts 1939, No. 112, P. 144). The State Comptroller heads the Division of Control and Accounts. The Office's Division of Departmental and County Audits, absorbed by the Finance Department, eventually became a part of the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts. The State Comptroller's responsibilities which related to the budget were assigned to the Division of the Budget in the Department of Finance.

From the description of Agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145407500