In 1785 a Commission for Auditing the Public Accounts was established by statute, replacing the Auditors of the Imprest.
Its members, the Commissioners of Audit, were five in number: three were appointed by letters patent, the other two were the Comptrollers of Army Accounts, who served ex officio.
)[1] In 1806 the Commission was reconstituted with ten commissioners (no longer incorporating the ex officio members).
[2] Over ensuing decades the size of the Commission gradually decreased as departing members were not always replaced.
Under the terms of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, the offices of the Comptroller of the Exchequer and the Commissioners of Audit were merged and their duties vested in a new official: the Comptroller and Auditor General.