History History----The beginnings of the present Audit Department in Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, can be traced to early British times. From the records available it would appear that there had been an Auditor-General by the name of Cecil Smith as far back as the year 1799, just three years after the British occupation of the maritime provinces of the Island in 1796. His designation was Accountant and Auditor-General, but there is no information as to the precise nature of his functions. From his designation, it might be inferred that he discharged dual functions, namely, that of Accountant, presumably at the Treasury, and also that of Auditor-General, responsible for the audit of Government accounts which would have included those of the Treasury as well. Such an arrangement could not by modern standards be considered as being conducive to an independent and effective audit. The year 1806 marks an important change in the designation, signifying presumably the removal of the accounting functions from Head of the Audit Department. The designation was altered to Civil Auditor Generals. The separate existence of the Audit Office continued for the next 35 years until Britain decided to increase the scope of functions. It was then amalgamated with a part of the Treasury in 1841 and placed under one of the highest Government officials of the time who combined in himself the three important offices of the Auditor-General, the Accountant-General and the Controller of Revenue. The high executive position held by this officer in his capacity as Controller of Revenue secured for him a seat in the Executive Council of the day through which the Government of the time was carried on by a succession of Colonial Governors from Britain. Though, no doubt, this arrangement helped to raise the status of the Auditor-General, it cannot be regarded as retrograde from the point of view of the effectiveness of audit. The Audit Department continued to function under this arrangement for a period of 66 years until the year 1907, when the very desirable separation of the Audit Office from the Treasury Department took place. This far reaching decision was announced by the then Acting Colonial Secretary in the following words. "His Excellency the Governor with the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, has been pleased to order that from March 1907, the offices of the Auditor-General, Accountant-General and Controller of Revenue, shall cease to be administered by a single officer and that in future there shall be two officers severally described as those of (a) the Controller of Revenue (b) the Colonial Auditor the duties of the Accountant-General being discharged by the Treasury". It is to be noted that the designation of the head of the Audit Department was also changed to that of Colonial Auditor at the same time. While the department has continued its separate existence since then the designation of its head underwent a change to that of