Feasibility of extending preventive and concurrent control to the territorial comptrollers' offices of Colombia

Abstract

Fiscal control in Colombia has undergone changes over the years, which has led to its strengthening but also to the recognition of its weaknesses, such as whether or not to persist with it being a preventive and concomitant control; at the same time regarding who should assume it, whether it is a task solely destined for the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República) or if it is worth including territorial comptroller's offices. Based on this premise, this article aims to examine the feasibility of extending preventive and concomitant control to territorial comptroller's offices, to ensure its compatibility with the constitutional design of fiscal control and its contribution to strengthening territorial autonomy. To this end, a review of literature and regulations is primarily used in order to provide a historical look, but also a legal perspective, regarding the emergence and development of fiscal control in Colombia. Likewise, it delves into preventive and concomitant control, as stipulated in Legislative Act 04 of 2019, in order to recognize the relevance of extending this character to the fiscal control model in the country, for the sake of strengthening territorial autonomy. It is concluded that such a proposal is relevant, given that it contributes, in turn, to decentralization without resulting in co-administration, since the substantial interest consists in making alerts and thus preventing the materialization of risk, for the protection of state assets and resources.