The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) came into being as a separate entity with the enactment of the Central Board of Revenue Act in 1963. The Board has a Chairman and five Members.
The Principal Chief Controller of Accounts (Pr CCA) is the Head of the Payment and Accounting Organization in the Central Board of Excise and Customs. Secretary (Revenue) is the Chief Accounting Authority of CBEC and the                                                     Pr.C.C.A is the Head of the Accounting

The main responsibilities of Office of Principal Chief Controller of Accounts are:

i. Discharging payment functions of all Commissionerates / Directorates through 79 Pay and Accounts Offices and    delegated Cheque Drawing DDOs located at various locations in the country.

ii. Accounting of both Expenditures and Revenues (Indirect Taxes) of each Commissionerate/ Directorate, on a     monthly basis (through the Pay and Accounts Offices) and final consolidation of accounts of CBEC through the     Principal Accounts Office, at Head Quarters.

iii. Preparation of Annual Head-wise Appropriation Accounts and Statement of Central Transactions of the      Department for the Union Finance Accounts.

iv. Prescribing banking arrangements for Indirect Tax collections, including nomination of banks and bank branches,     (determining accounting procedural requirements) and excercising coordination with the Reserve Bank of India      and Office of Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in the Ministry of Finance.

v. Tracking, monitoring, reconciliation and accounting of Indirect Tax revenues including monitoring delays in     remittances to Government account.

vi.Conducting Internal Audit of Customs, Service Tax and Central Excise Commissionerates at Headquarters,     Division and Range level.

vii.Rendering financial and technical advice to CBEC on matters relating to collection, accounting, banking      arrangements and advise on classification of indirect taxes.

Presently, there are 79 Pay and Accounts Offices (PAOs) located all over the country functioning under the Pr.CCA in discharging these responsibilities. Two new e-Pay and Account Offices (e-PAOs) have been created w.e.f. 01.08.2008, to account for e-payments of Central Excise and Service Tax at Chennai and Mumbai respectively. Additionally, two exclusive Revenue PAOs have also been set up in Kolkata w.e.f. 01.12.2008 and in Mumbai w.e.f. 1.04.09 to account for physical payments of Central Excise and Service Tax. There are 816 DDOs (Drawing and Disbursing Officers) under the payment control of this office. 143 DDOs have been delegated cheque-drawing powers, and the remaining 673 DDOs are Non-Cheque Drawing and Disbursing Offices (NCDDOs) who submit their payment bills to the Cheque Drawing DDOs, or to the PAOs directly.