Auditor General of Sri Lanka

Auditor General of Sri Lanka
ශ්‍රී ලංකා විගණකාධිපති
இலங்கை கணக்காய்வாளர் தலைமை
since 5 February 2026
Auditor-General's Department
Seat306/72 Polduwa road, Battaramulla
NominatorPresident of Sri Lanka
AppointerThe president
with Constitutional Council advice and consent
Formation24 January 1799 (1799-01-24)
First holderCecil Smith
(as Accountant and Auditor General)
Websiteauditorgeneral.gov.lk

The auditor general of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා විගණකාධිපති Śrī Laṃkā viganakādhipathi; Tamil: இலங்கை கணக்காய்வாளர் தலைமை) is appointed by the President to aid accountability by conducting independent audits of government operations. These audits provide members of Parliament with objective information to help them examine the government's activities and hold it to account. According to the constitution, the auditor general is empowered to audit the accounts of all departments of Government, the Offices of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Judicial Service Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, the Secretary-General of Parliament and the Commissioner of Elections, local authorities, public corporations and business or other undertakings vested in the Government under any written law.[1][2]

The auditor general of Sri Lanka is the head of the National Audit Office.[3][4][5] Samudika Jayarathna, appointed on 5 February 2025, is the current and 42nd holder of the position and the first female to do so.[6]

List of auditors general

While the title of Auditor General of Sri Lanka was formally adopted on the country's enactment of its 1978 republican constitution, the position or an equivalent to it has existed since 1799 under various titles.[5] The department in its current form considers itself a continuation of the office established in 1799, and the table below thus lists all officeholders that have held positions equivalent to the position of the current Auditor General.[5]

No. Auditor General Took office Left office Appointed by Ref.
Accountant and Auditor General
1 Cecil Smith 24 January 1799 1799 North
Civil Auditor and Accountant General
2 Thomas Frazer September 1799 1802 North
Accountant General and Civil Auditor
3 Robert Boyd 29 September 1802 1806 North
Civil Auditor General
4 Samuel Tolfrey 1 October 1806 1809 Maitland
5 Richard Plasket 14 June 1809 1811
6 Anthony Bertolacci 30 January 1811 1814
7 John D'Oyly 1 September 1814 1816 Brownrigg
8 Edward Tolfrey 2 March 1816 1 December 1817
9 John William Carrington 1 December 1817 1823
10 Henry Augustus Marshall 1823 1841 Campbell
Auditor General, Accountant General and Controller of Revenue
11 Henry Wright 1 February 1841 1847 Stewart-Mackenzie
12 Charles Justin MacCarthy 28 May 1847 1851 Tennent
13 William Charles Gibson 1 October 1851 1861 Anderson
14 Richard Theodore Pennefather 24 June 1861 1866 MacCarthy
15 R. J. Callander 3 January 1866 1870 Robinson
16 John Douglas 10 March 1870 1876
17 Colville Arthur Durell Barclay 16 June 1876 1877 Gregory
18 William Henry Ravenscroft 23 May 1877 1890
19 George Thomas Michael O'Brien 18 October 1890 1891 Havelock
20 James Alexander Swettenham 31 July 1891 1895
21 Sir William Thomas Taylor 10 June 1895 1901
22 Francis Robert Ellis 1 March 1902 1907 Ridgeway
Colonial Auditor
23 Bernard Senior 1 March 1907 1909 Blake
24 D. S. MacGregor 8 April 1909 1914 McCallum
25 Wilfrid Wentworth Woods 27 May 1914 1922 Chalmers
26 F. G. Morley 1 March 1922 1931 Manning
27 Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke 25 June 1931 1946 Thomson
Auditor General
28 E. Allen Smith 16 February 1946 1953 Moore
29 Lionel Arthur Weerasinghe 2 March 1953 1963 Ramsbotham
30 D. S. De Silva 14 September 1963 1964 Gopallawa
31 B. L. W. Fernando 21 February 1964 1969
32 D. R. Settinayake 15 August 1969 1971
33 P. M. W. Wijayasuriya 11 October 1971 1983
34 W. Gamini Epa 2 May 1983 1993 Jayewardene
35 S. M. Sabry 26 January 1993 2000 Premadasa
36 Sarath Chandrasiri Mayadunne 13 August 2000 2006 Kumaratunga
37 P. A. Pematilaka 23 October 2006 2007 Rajapaksa
38 S. Swarnajothi 3 January 2007 August 2010
39 H. A. S. Samaraweera 2010 2015
40 Gamini Wijesinghe 27 November 2015 April 2019 Sirisena
41 Chulantha Wickramaratne 29 April 2019 8 April 2025 [7]
42 Samudika Jayarathna 5 February 2026 Incumbent Dissanayake [6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Audit Act, No. 19 of 2018 (Certified on 17th of July, 2018)" (PDF). Parliament of Sri Lanka. 17 July 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2025. Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  2. ^ "National Audit (Amendment) Act, No. 19 of 2025 (Certified on 22nd of September, 2025)" (PDF). Parliament of Sri Lanka. 22 September 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 February 2026. Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  3. ^ "The Auditor General's Role and Responsibilities". auditorgeneral.gov.lk. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Former Auditor Generals". auditorgeneral.gov.lk. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  5. ^ a b c "History of the Auditor General's Department" (PDF). auditorgeneral.gov.lk. Auditor General's Department. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Samudika Jayaratne assumes duties as Sri Lanka's first female Auditor General". Ada Derana. 5 February 2026. Archived from the original on 5 February 2026. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  7. ^ "New appointments". Ada Derana. 29 April 2019. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
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