Treasury Department Comptroller's Office September 1^st 1798. Sir In consequence of the additional duties assigned to the office of Accountant of the War Department, by the 3^d section of the act of Congress passed on the 16^th of July last, entitled "An act to alter and amend the several acts for the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War and Navy Departments," it will be proper, the following [underline: general accompts of expenditure] in addition to those heretofore prescribed; should be opened in the books of your office (viz:) 1^st Quartermasters Department. 2^d Hospital Department. 3^d Cloathing Department. 4^th Subsistence of the Army. The last of these accompts is to include the subsistence of the Officers of the Army, as well as of the non-commissioned officers and privates, consequently the general accompt of expenditure now open in your books under the title of Subsistence of Officers will be rendered unnecessary and is therefore to be discontinued. I deem it unnecessary to enter into any particular observations on this subject; as the forms and instructions which have hitherto proceeded from this Office sufficiently exemplify and explain the manner of keeping and rendering the accompts of your office. The importance however of having all accompts [undecipherable] rendered quarterly for settlement, in order that frequent and regular adjustments thereof may be made, is so manifest, that I cannot avoid calling your attention in the most pointed manner, to that part of the instructions transmitted from this Office on the 13^th of August 1792, which require a strict correspondence to be maintained by you with all persons to whom monies shall be advanced by the Department of War. As by the act before referred to, all purchases and contracts for supplies or services for the Military service of the United States, are to be made by or under the direction of the Secretary of War, he will doubtless judge it expedient to direct particular accompts to be opened for the purpose of ascertaining the amount of various expenses, which may finally be involved in a more general accompt; for instance, he may deem it expedient to direct the disbursements in the Quartermasters Department, to be classified in such a manner and distributed under so many [underline: particular heads of expenditure] as will at any time afford an easy and satisfactory view of the expenditures in that Department, and so with any other. In respect therefore to any details of this nature not inconsistent with the principles of the system of accounting, already prescribed and established, you will of course be governed by his Instructions.— I am Sir, very respectfully, Your Obed:^t Servant [undecipherable] William Simmons Esquire Accountant of the War Department [Comptroller's Office] [further Instructions from the Comptroller of the treasury to his accountant of the [undecipherable] general [undecipherable] dated 1 Sept. 1798 and 3 atta.]