Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866

12 Quarterly accounts of the income and charge of the Consolidated Fund to be prepared.

At the close of each of the quarters ending on the thirty-first day of March, the thirtieth day of June, the thirtieth day of September, and the thirty-first day of December in every year, the Treasury shall prepare an account of the income and charge of the Consolidated Fund in Great Britain and in Ireland for such quarter, and the charges for the public debt due on the fifth day of April, the fifth day of July, the tenth day of October, and the fifth day of January, shall be included in the accounts of the said charge for the quarters ending on the days preceding the latter dates ; and a copy of such account shall forthwith be transmitted by the Treasury to the Comptroller and Auditor General; and. if it shall appear by such account that the income of the Consolidated Fund in Great Britain or in Ireland for the quarter is not sufficient to defray the charge upon it, the Comptroller and Auditor General, if satisfied of the correctness of the deficiency, shall certify the amount thereof, to the Bank of England or to the Band of Ireland, as the case may be, and upon such certificates the said banks shall be authorised to make advances, from time to time, during the succeeding quarter, on the application of the Treasury, by writing, in a form to be from time to time determined by them, to an amount not exceeding in the aggregate the sums specified in such certificates ; and all such advances shall be placed to the credit of the Exchequer accounts at the said banks, and be available to satisfy the orders for credits granted or to be granted upon the said accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General; and the principal and interest of all such advances shall be paid, out of the growing produce of the Consolidated Fund in the said succeeding quarter.