PROVISIONS OF LAW AFFECTING THE FISCAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. REV. ST. SEC. 3677. Control of appropriations of the department. SEC. 3677. The Commissioner of Agriculture shall direct and superintend the expenditure of all money appropriated to the Department and render accounts thereof. The designation of Commissioner is changed to Secretary of Agriculture by act February 1, 1889, c. 122. ACT JULY 31, 1894, c. 174. (28 Stat. 162.) Comptroller of Treasury to prescribe forms of keeping and rendering accounts. SEC. 5. The Comptroller of the Treasury shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, prescribe the forms of keeping and rendering all public accounts, except those relating to the postal revenues and expenditures therefrom. Act July 31, 1894, c. 174, s. 5, 28 Stat. 206. Certified balances conclusive on departments; revision of accounts; accepting payment on auditor's settlement, conclusive; decisions of auditors to be examined by comptroller; comptroller's decisions to govern. SEC. 8. The balances which may from time to time be certified by the Auditors to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants, or to the Postmaster-General, upon the settlements of public accounts, shall be final and conclusive upon the Executive Branch of the Government, except that any person whose accounts may have been settled, the head of the Executive Department, or of the board, commission, or establishment not under the jurisdiction of an Executive Department, to which the account pertains, or the Comptroller of the Treasury, may, within a year, obtain a revision of the said account by the Comptroller of the Treasury, whose decision upon such revision shall be final and conclusive upon the Executive Branch of the Government: Provided, That the Secretary of th Treasury may, when in his judgment the interests of th Government require it, suspend payment and direct th re-examination of any account. Upon a certificate by the Comptroller of the Treasury any differences ascertained by him upon revision the Au ditor who shall have audited the account shall state a account of such differences, and certify it to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants, except that balances foun and accounts stated as aforesaid by the Auditor for th Post-Office Department for postal revenues and expendi tures therefrom shall be certified to the Postmaster General. Any person accepting payment under a settlement by an Auditor shall be thereby precluded from obtaining revision of such settlement as to any items upon which payment is accepted; but nothing in this Act shall preven an Auditor from suspending items in an account in orde to obtain further evidence or explanations necessary to their settlement. When suspended items are finally settled a revision may be had as in the case of the original settlement. Action upon any account or business shall not be delayed awaiting applications for revision: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall make regulations fixing the time which shall expire before a warrant is issued in payment of an account certified as provided in sections seven and eight of this Act. The Auditors shall, under the direction of the Comptroller of the Treasury, preserve, with their vouchers and certificates, all accounts which have been finally adjusted. All decisions by Auditors making an original construction or modifying an existing construction of statutes shall be forthwith reported to the Comptroller of the Treasury, and items in any account affected by such decisions shall be suspended and payment thereof withheld until the Comptroller of the Treasury shall approve, disapprove, or modify such decisions and certify his actions to the Auditor. All decisions made by the Comptroller of the Treasury under this Act shall be forthwith transmitted to the Auditor or Auditors whose duties are affected thereby. Disbursing officers, or the head of any Executive Department, or other establishment not under any of the Executive Departments, may apply for and the Comptroller of the Treasury shall render his decision upon any question involving a payment to be made by them or under them, |