The universities, the government and the Public Accounts Committee

Abstract

Financial Accountability The Secretary of State has announced that the Comptroller and Auditor General is to have access to the books of the universities and of the University Grants Committee (UGC). The impact of the Public Accounts Committee on our universities is welcomed by some and feared by many. It cannot be studied as an abstraction, to be thought of in principle or in vacuo. We shall have to seek guidance from several sources which have not yet been examined in detail. We must study the constitutional position in other countries and we must understand the history and organisation of public accounting and of the department of our own Comptroller and Auditor General (C. & AG.). I have little first-hand experience of the details of procedure either at home or abroad but perhaps my conclusions will inspire comment from people better informed than myself. The idea of accountability is as old as organised government. It was highly developed in classical Athens. Demosthenes boasted that throughout his career he had been subject to public audit in all the positions he held. In his great and ancient city no public office whatsoever was exempt from audit. Our own state audit can be traced back to the time of the Anglo-Saxons, but the department was completely reformed in 1866 and it has had to struggle -hard to establish itself. For example, it was many years before it was able to impose its will on the War Office.