Initially the Treasury consisted of just a few officials responsible for managing the Government's day-to-day financial affairs.

The Treasury "hit the spotlight" in this role during a wave of far-reaching, and often controversial, economic reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s.

This period also coincided with a general shift towards higher scrutiny of government activity and performance, making the Finance portfolio and Treasury operations more transparent.

During this time, departments have become largely free to manage their own resources, with the Treasury's role being to provide central agency leadership, co-ordination and monitoring.

Given the agency's key influence and impact on fiscal policy, it has been accused by critics in recent years of inaccurate forecasts,[14] regulatory capture and political partisanism,[15][16][17][18] and accepting corporate gifts from the financial industry.