Comptroller General of the State explained

Post:Comptroller General
Body:the State
Native Name:Interventor General del Estado
Flag:Logotipo de la Intervención General de la Administración del Estado.png
Flagsize:300px
Insignia:Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
Insigniasize:100px
Insigniacaption:Coat of Arms used by the Government
Incumbent:Pablo Arellano Pardo
Incumbentsince:23 June 2018
Style:The Most Excellent
Reports To:Under Secretary of Finance
Nominator:Minister of Finance
Appointer:King of Spain
Abbreviation:IGAE
Termlength:No fixed term
Inaugural:José Ramón de Oya
Precursor:Director-General for Accounting
Website:www.igae.pap.hacienda.gob.es

The Comptroller General of the State (IGAE) is a senior official of the Ministry of Finance of Spain. The comptroller directs the Office of the Comptroller General of the State Administration, which is an internal supervisory agency with the task of supervising the state public administration and of managing the public accounts.

The Comptroller General is appointed by the Monarch with the advice of the Finance Minister. The Comptroller General reports directly to the Under Secretary of Finance.

Purpose

The Comptroller oversees the IGAE agency, which has two core functions. Its primary function is that of a supervisory agency. It is responsible for verifying – through previous monitoring of legality, continuous financial control, public audits, and financial control of subsidies – that the public sector's economic and financial activity complies with the principles of legality, economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Its second function is to act as the center for the management of public accounts. It is responsible for providing reliable, complete, professional and independent accounting information about public management. In this regard, it is responsible for drafting the public sector's financial accounts according to the guidance set out by the European System of Accounts. The most specific result of this is the determination of public deficit, which is essential to the nation's economic life. It calculates the deficit for the central government and each of its sub-sectors.[1]

Organisation

A large number of officials and administrative bodies depend upon the Comptroller General. To carry out its functions, the IGAE agency has delegations known as Comptroller Delegations (Spanish; Castilian: Intervenciónes delegates) in all the General State Administration departments, including ministerial departments, public agencies and regional and local administrations. In addition, the law specifies that certain government bodies must have integrated delegations: Ministry of Defence (IGD), Social Security (IGSS), the General Secretariat for the Treasury and International Financing, and the Directorate-General for Personnel Costs and Public Pensions.

In addition to the bodies mentioned above, the IGAE agency is divided into seven large departments:

It is also supported by a dedicated technical office.[2]

List of comptrollers general

Comptroller GeneralTerm of serviceAppointing Prime Minister
1José Ramón de Oya7 January 1874 – 8 August 1878Francisco Serrano
2Raimundo Fernández Villaverde8 August 1878 – 7 July 1880Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
3José Ramón de Oya7 July 1880 – 30 June 1887
4Ángel González de la Peña30 June 1887 – 16 July 1895Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
5Adrián Mínguez y Ranz16 July 1895 – 14 September 1906Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
6José María de Retes y Muyraní14 September 1906 – 1 September 1916José López Domínguez
7Enrique de Yllana y Sánchez de Vargas1 September 1916 – April 12, 1924Álvaro de Figueroa
8José Corral y Larre12 April – 28 June 1924Miguel Primo de Rivera
9Arturo Foreat Rivera28 June 1924 – 4 February 1930
10Enrique de Yllana y Sánchez de Vargas4 February – 27 April 1930Dámaso Berenguer
11Adolfo Sixto Hontán27 April 1930 – 1938Niceto Alcalá Zamora
Spanish Civil War
12Eugenio Gómez Pereira13 March 1942 – 7 September 1951Francisco Franco
13José Manuel Rozas Eguiburu7 September 1951 – 27 July 1965
14Felicísimo de Blas Hernando27 July 1965 – 2 July 1973
15Joaquín Collada Andréu2 July 1973 – 6 June 1976Luis Carrero Blanco
16Augusto Gutiérrez Robles6 June 1976 – 18 July 1980Carlos Arias Navarro
17Ignacio Montaño Jiménez18 July 1980 – 24 December 1982Adolfo Suárez
18Juan Francisco Martín Seco24 December 1982 – 23 February 1984Felipe González
19Ricardo Bolufer Nieto23 February 1984 – 7 October 1988
20Juan Aracil Martín7 October 1988 – 23 March 1991
21Purificación Esteso Ruiz23 March 1991 – 15 July 1994
22Gregorio Máñez Vindel15 July 1994 – 7 May 1996
23Rafael Muñoz López-Carmona7 May 1996 – 10 September 1999José María Aznar
24Alicia Díaz Zurro10 September 1999 – 24 April 2004
25José Alberto Pérez Pérez24 April 2004 – 13 January 2012José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
26José Carlos Alcalde Hernández13 January 2012 – 25 November 2016Mariano Rajoy
27María Luisa Lamela Diaz25 November 2016 – 23 June 2018
28Pablo Arellano Pardo23 June 2018 – presentPedro Sánchez

Notes and References

  1. Web site: IGAE:Intervención General de la Administración del Estado. www.igae.pap.hacienda.gob.es. es-ES. 2018-10-25.
  2. Web site: Royal Decree 1113/2018, of September 7, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of the Treasury is developed.. www.boe.es. es. 2018-10-25.