Below is information on the history of the agency. This information was obtained through various sources. A list of the sources is included at the end of the timeline.

• 1799
  • Governor: Edward Rutledge (Federalist) (1798-1800)
  • The South Carolina legislature established an office of "Comptroller of the Revenue and Finances of the State." Today, South Carolina is one of only 14 states that elect, rather than appoint, the public official who performs the duties associated with this office.

• 1800
  • Governor: John Drayton (Democratic-Republican) (1800-1802)
  • Comptroller General: Paul Hamilton (1800-1804)

• 1802
  • Governor: James Burchill Richardson (Democratic-Republican) (1802-1804)

• 1804
  • Governor: Paul Hamilton (Democratic-Republican) (1802-1806)
  • Comptroller General: Thomas Lee (1804-1817)

• 1806
  • Governor: Charles Pinckney (Democratic-Republican) (1806-1808)

• 1808
  • Governor: John Drayton (Democratic-Republican) (1808-1810)

• 1810
  • Governor: Henry Middleton (Democratic-Republican) (1810-1812)

• 1812
  • Governor: Joseph Alston (Democratic-Republican) (1812-1814)

• 1814
  • Governor: David Rogerson Williams (Democratic-Republican) (1814-1816)

• 1816
  • Governor: Andrew Pickens (Democratic-Republican) (1816-1818)

• 1817
  • Governor: Comptroller General: George Warren Cross was elected as Comptroller General, but was replaced by Robert Creswell later in the year.
  • Comptroller General: Robert Creswell (1817-1819)

• 1818
  • Governor: John Geddes (Democratic-Republican) (1818-1820)

• 1819
  • Governor: Comptroller General: John Stevens Cogdell (1819-1821)

• 1820
  • Governor: Thomas Bennett, Jr. (Democratic-Republican) (1820-1822)

• 1821
  • Comptroller General: Thomas Lee (1821-1822)

• 1822
  • Governor: John Lyde (Democratic-Republican) (1822-1826)
  • Comptroller General: Benjamin T. Elmore (1822-1826)

• 1824
  • Governor: Richard Irvine Manning I (Democratic-Republican) (1824-1826)

• 1826
  • Governor: John Taylor (Democratic-Republican) (1826-1828)
  • Comptroller General: Alexander Speer (1826-1830)

• 1828
  • Governor: Stephen Decatur Miller (Democratic (Nullifier)) (1828-1830)

• 1830
  • Governor: James Hamilton, Jr. (Democratic (Nullifier)) (1830-1832)
  • Comptroller General: Thomas Harrison (1830-1834)

• 1832
  • Governor: Robert Young Hayne (Democratic (Nullifier)) (1832-1834)

• 1834
  • Governor: George McDuffie (Democratic) (1834-1836)
  • Comptroller General: William Laval (1834-1838)

• 1836
  • Governor: Pierce Mason Butler (Democratic) (1836-1838)

• 1838
  • Governor: Patrick Noble (Democratic) (1838-1840) (died in office)
  • Comptroller General: William Edward Hayne (1838-1842)

• 1840
  • Governor: Barnabas Kelet Henagan (Democratic) (1840-1840) (not elected)
  • Governor: John Peter Richardson II (Democratic) (1840-1842)

• 1842
  • Governor: James Henry Hammon (Democratic) (1842-1844)
  • Comptroller General: William Laval (1842-1846)

• 1844
  • Governor: William Aiken, Jr. (Democratic) (1844-1846)

• 1846
  • Governor: David Johnson (Democratic) (1846-1848)
  • Comptroller General: William C. Black (1846-1850)

• 1848
  • Governor: Whitemarsh B. Seabrook (Democratic) (1848-1850)

• 1850
  • Governor: John Hugh Means (Democratic) (1850-1852)
  • Comptroller General: James B. McCully (1850-1854)

• 1852
  • Governor: John Lawrence Manning (Democratic) (1852-1854)

• 1854
  • Governor: James Hopkins Adams (Democratic) (1854-1856)
  • Comptroller General: John D. Ashemore (1854-1858)

• 1856
  • Governor: Robert F. W. Allston (Democratic) (1856-1858)

• 1858
  • Governor: William Henry Gist (Democratic) (1858-1860)
  • Comptroller General: Thomas J. Pickens (1858-1862)

• 1860
  • Governor: Francis Wilkinson Pickens (Democratic) (1860-1862)

• 1862
  • Governor: Milledge Luke Bonham (Democratic) (1862-1864)
  • Comptroller General: James A. Black (1862-1866)

• 1864
  • Governor: Andrew Gordon Magrath (Democratic) (1864-1865)

• 1865
  • Governor: Benjamin Franklin Perry (Unionist Democratic) (1865-1865) (appointed by President Andrew Johnson)
  • Governor: James Lawrence Orr (No Party) (1865-1868)

• 1866
  • Comptroller General: Simon L. Leaphart (1866-1868)

• 1868
  • Governor: Robert Kingston Scott (Republican) (1868-1872)
  • Comptroller General: John L. Neagle (1868-1872)

• 1872
  • Governor: Franklin I. Moses, Jr. (Republican) (1872-1874)
  • Comptroller General: Solomon L. Hoge (1872-1874)

• 1874
  • Governor: Daniel Henry Chamberlain (Republican) (1874-1876)
  • Comptroller General: Thomas C. Dunn (1874-1876)

• 1876
  • Governor: Wade Hampton III (Democratic) (1876-1879) (resigned)
  • Comptroller General: Johnson Hagood (1876-1880)

• 1879
  • Governor: William Dunlap Simpson (Democratic) (1879-1880) (not elected)

• 1880
  • Governor: Thomas Bothwell Jeter (Democratic) (1880-1880)
  • Governor: Johnson Hagood (Democratic) (1880-1882)
  • Comptroller General: John C. Coit (elected, but replaced by John Bratton later in the year)
  • Comptroller General: John Bratton (1880-1882)

• 1882
  • Governor: Hugh Smith Thompson (Democratic) (1882-1886) (resigned)
  • Comptroller General: William E. Stoney (1882-1886)

• 1886
  • Governor: John Calhoun Sheppard (Democratic) (1886-1886) (not elected)
  • Governor: John Peter Richardson III (Democratic) (1886-1890)
  • Comptroller General: John S. Verner (1886-1890)

• 1890
  • Governor: Benjamin Ryan Tillman (Democratic) (1890-1894)
  • Comptroller General: William H. Ellerbe (1890-1894)

• 1894
  • Governor: John Gary Evans (Democratic) (1894-1897)
  • Comptroller General: James W. Horton (1894-1897)

• 1897
  • Governor: William Haselden Ellerbe (Democratic) (1897-1899) (died in office)
  • Comptroller General: Layfayette P. Epton (1897-1899)

• 1899
  • Governor: Miles Benjamin McSweeney (Democratic) (1899-1903)
  • Comptroller General: John P. Derham (1899-1903)

• 1903
  • Governor: Duncan Clinch Heyward (Democratic) (1903-1907)
  • Comptroller General: Adolphus W. Jones (1903-1915)

• 1907
  • Governor: Martin Frederick Ansel (Democratic) (1907-1911)

• 1911
  • Governor: Coleman Livingston Blease (Democratic) (1911-1915) (resigned)

• 1915
  • Governor: Charles Aurelius Smith (Democratic) (1915-1915) (not elected)
  • Governor: Richard Irvine Manning III (Democratic) (1915-1919)
  • Comptroller General: Carlton W. Sawyer (1915-1918)

• 1918
  • Comptroller General: R. Lyles Osborne (1918-1920)

• 1919
  • Governor: Robert Archer Cooper (Democratic) (1919-1922) (resigned)

• 1920
  • Comptroller General: Wilbert Sutherland (1920-1921)

• 1921
  • Comptroller General: Walter E. Duncan (1921-1925)

• 1922
  • Governor: Wilson Godfrey Harvey (Democratic) (1922-1923) (not elected)

• 1923
  • Governor: Thomas Gordon McLeod (Democratic) (1923-1927)

• 1925
  • Comptroller General: A. J. Beattie (1925-1943)

• 1927
  • Governor: John Gardiner Richards, Jr. (Democratic) (1927-1931)

• 1931
  • Governor: Ibra Charles Blackwood (Democratic) (1931-1935)

• 1935
  • Governor: Olin D. Johnston (Democratic) (1935-1939)

• 1939
  • Governor: Burnet R. Maybank (Democratic) (1939-1941) (resigned)

• 1941
  • Governor: Joseph Emile Harley (Democratic) (1941-1942) (not elected, died in office)

• 1942
  • Governor: Richard Manning Jefferies (Democratic) (1942-1943) (not elected)

• 1943
  • Governor: Olin D. Johnston (Democratic) (1943-1945) (resigned)
  • Comptroller General: Eldridge C. Rhodes (1943-1967)

• 1945
  • Governor: Ransome Judson Williams (Democratic) (1945-1947) (not elected)

• 1947
  • Governor: Strom Thurmond (Democratic) (1947-1951)

• 1951
  • Governor: James Francis Byrnes (Democratic) (1951-1955)

• 1955
  • Governor: George Bell Timmerman, Jr. (Democratic) (1955-1959)

• 1959
  • Governor: Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (Democratic) (1959-1963)

• 1963
  • Governor: Donald Stuart Russell (Democratic) (1963-1965) (resigned)

• 1965
  • Governor: Robert Evander McNair (Democratic) (1965-1971)

• 1967
  • Comptroller General: J. Henry Mills (1967-1976)

• 1971
  • Governor: John C. West (Democratic) (1971-1975)

• 1975
  • Governor: James Burrows Edwards (Republican) (1975-1979)

• 1976
  • Comptroller General: Earle E. Morris, Jr. (1976-1999)

• 1979
  • Governor: Richard Wilson Riley (Democratic) (1979-1987)

• 1987
  • Governor: Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. (Republican) (1987-1995)

• 1995
  • Governor: David Muldrow Beasley (Republican) (1995-1999)

• 1999
  • Governor: James Hovis Hodges (Democratic) (1999-2003)
  • Comptroller General: James A. Lander (1999-2002)

• 2002
  • Comptroller General: Richard A. Eckstrom (2002-2006)

• 2003
  • Governor: Mark Sanford (Republican) (2003-2011)

• 2005
  • The local government section was transferred to the SC Department of Revenue. Comptroller General Eckstrom initiated the transfer, which was codified, as a logical streamlining of functions. The section deals with legal and tax issues that are better suited to the Department of Revenue than the Comptroller General's Office.

• 2005-2011
  • The Data Processing Division was restructured. With the implementation of a new state accounting system - the SC Enterprise Information System (SCEIS) - the agency downsized its information technology and accounting personnel by several dozen positions by automating a significant number of functions. During this process, several other employees were transferred from the Comptroller General's Office to the Budget and Control Board's Division of State Information Technology (DSIT). These changes occurred over several years.

• 2006
  • Comptroller General: Richard A. Eckstrom (2006-2010)

• 2008
  • The Comptroller General's Office launched the SC Fiscal Transparency Website, providing a centralized clearinghouse of federal, state, and local government expenditure data in user-friendly formats for review by state legislators, citizens, members of the news media, and other interested parties. This was one of the first government transparency websites in the nation. The Comptroller General's Office created it, and continues to operate the site, using existing staff resources with no additional funding for the project.

• 2009
  • Comptroller General Eckstrom initiated the creation of a multiagency working group to improve monitoring and reporting of state tax collections with greater timeliness. The group consists of representatives of the Comptroller General's Office, the Board of Economic Advisors (BEA), the Department of Revenue, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the State Budget Office and the State Treasurer's Office. Led by Comptroller General Eckstrom, the group reviews state tax collections in monthly meetings and provides a report on its findings each month to the BEA. The initiative is a great help to the BEA in formulating its revenue projections that the General Assembly uses to craft the annual appropriations act and the governor uses to develop an executive budget.

• 2010
  • Comptroller General: Richard A. Eckstrom (2010-2014)

• 2011
  • Governor: Nikki Haley (Republican) (2011-Present)
  • February 2011 - Moody's Investment Services gave South Carolina the highest possible AAA rating. Standard & Poor's gave South Carolina an AA+ rating. South Carolina is one of 12 states rated in the top category by Moody's and is one of 25 states rated AA+ or higher by Standard & Poor's.

• 2014
  • Comptroller General: Richard A. Eckstrom (2014-2018)

• Sources of Information
  • Office of the Comptroller General's 2015 Annual Restructuring Report
  • Office of the Comptroller General's 2015 Program Evaluation Report
  • Office of the Comptroller General websie
  • Thomas Cooper, ed., The Statutes as Large of South Carolina, Act Number 1729 of 1799 (Columbia: A.S. Johnston, 1839), 360-363
  • Office of the State Treasurer website