Exchequer

The UK Exchequer (formally His Majesty's Exchequer) is part of the machinery of government, defined as 'the legal and accounting entities which support the UK’s spending and revenue activities'. The term is used for the accounting process of central government, and as such it appears in various financial documents (including the latest departmental and agency annual accounts). The Consolidated Fund account at the Bank of England is officially termed the 'The Account of His Majesty's Exchequer': it serves as the government's current account, into which is paid the money raised from taxation (and other government revenues), and out of which is issued money for government spending.

Historically the Exchequer (the Court of Exchequer) was an executive body, akin to a government department, responsible for the collection and the management of taxes and revenues, making payments on behalf of the sovereign, and auditing official accounts. The existence of an Exchequer in England was first recorded in 1110. (Similar offices were established in Normandy by 1180, in Scotland around 1200 and in Ireland in 1210).

Alongside its accountancy responsibilities, the Exchequer developed a judicial role (initially trying legal cases relating to revenue, but soon developing a broader jurisdiction as a court of common pleas). Later still (in the Tudor period) a court of Equity emerged in the Exchequer, which worked in parallel with the older offices on the 'revenue side' and the 'plea side'.

The old Exchequer continued in operation until the 1830s, after which its various offices were gradually and progressively abolished (their functions being transferred to other departments of state or courts of law). The Exchequer as presently constituted dates from the passing of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, which remains in force in relation to the accounting processes of HM Government. It is 'one of the oldest surviving institutions of its type in the world'.