The directing is a representative of authority placed at the head of a Ministère, of a territorial collectivity, a public corporation or a service which lay out, in addition to its functions of administrator, of a financial decision-making power. However, according to the principle of independence between the countable directors and the , it does not have competence to handle the Public money directly.

The function of director is defined in the first chapter of title II of the general Règlement on the public accounts (articles 5 to 10).

The directors can be:

• principal (ministers for the Budget of the State, directors of services for the additional, directing budgets of public corporations, presidents of district councils and generals, mayors for the territorial collectivities);
• secondary (specific prefects or directors for certain decentralized services).

“They can delegate their powers or be made compensate in the event of absence or of prevention”, according to article 6 of RGCP.

External bond

• bearing general payment on the public accounts