Auditor General of Sri Lanka
Government official responsible for auditing government operations
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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]
with Constitutional Council advice and consent
| Auditor General of Sri Lanka | |
|---|---|
| ශ්රී ලංකා විගණකාධිපති இலங்கை கணக்காய்வாளர் தலைமை | |
| |
since 5 February 2026 | |
| Auditor-General's Department | |
| Seat | 306/72 Polduwa road, Battaramulla |
| Nominator | President of Sri Lanka |
| Appointer | The president with Constitutional Council advice and consent |
| Formation | 24 January 1799 |
| First holder | Cecil Smith (as Accountant and Auditor General) |
| Website | auditorgeneral |
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] |