Consolidated Revenue is the main bank account in most of the countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. It is sometimes known as the Consolidated Revenue Fund or simply the Consolidated Fund. The idea came about in 1787 and was introduced by the British Prime Minister of the time, William Pitt the Younger. Funds had always been kept in three main accounts up until this time, these were known as the Aggregate Fund, the General Fund, and The South Sea Fund. Before the Consolidated Fund came to be, the Aggregate Fund looked after the revenues of the English Crown, the Revenue Fund was responsible for the income and expenditure of the Parliament and the South Sea Fund looked after the interests of the accounts that had been created in the South America. The Consolidated Fund ensured that the spending of Parliament was able to be looked after in place and was described at the time as "one fund into which shall flow every stream of public revenue and from which shall come the supply of every service." The fund remains in place today in the United Kingdom, and payments can only be made from the Fund to the Paymaster General, the National Debt Commissioners and also to the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England. Most of the countries, throughout what is known as the Commonwealth of Nations, have adopted the principles and ideas around the Fund. Some of the countries included in the Commonwealth of Nations are Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, India, Jamaica, South Africa and Sri Lanka. There are 54 countries in total and of these, only two, Mozambique and Rwanda, were not once part of the British Empire.
