11 June 2008
Accounting Officers and the Treasury’s role
The Treasury has responsibility, under the Government Resources and Accounts Act (GRAA) 2000, for appointing an Accounting Officer to each departmental Resource Account.
The Treasury also has discretion, under the GRAA 2000, to appoint Accounting Officers to parts of a departmental Resource Account.
In addition the Treasury has responsibility, under the Government Trading Funds Act 1973, 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 Government Trading Funds Act.
Departments are responsible for appointing Accounting Officers for their Executive Agencies. Departments also designate Accounting Officers in the Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) they sponsor. The Treasury maintains policy oversight.
Information on the responsibilities attaching to the Accounting Officer role can be found in chapter 4 of the Treasury guidance publication Managing Public Money.
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 file 92KB)
- Model Trading Fund appointment letter (PDF file 75KB)
- HM Treasury appointed Accounting Officers as at 11June 2008 (PDF file 144KB)