COMPTROLLER or CONTROLLER, the title of an offi cial whose business primarily was to examine and take charge of accounts, hence to direct or control; e.g., the English comptroller of the household, comptroller and auditor-general (head of the exchequer and audit department), comptroller-general of patents, etc., comptroller-general (head of the national debt office). The word is frequently spelt controller, as in controller of the navy, controller of the stationery office. The word is used in the same sense in the United States, as comptroller of the Treasury, an official who examines accounts and signs drafts, and comptroller of the currency, who administers the law relating to the national banks. In the United States a comptroller is also a principal busi ness executive officer whose duty it is to translate information obtained in accounting and business records into instruments for administrative control. The general auditor is responsible to him, and his department deals with questions of insurance, compensa tion, taxation and costs.