The Exchequer is the department in the British government which is responsible for receiving, issuing, and accounting for money belonging to the state. the British government department that is responsible for collecting taxes and paying out public money = treasury. English government department responsible for receiving and dispersing public revenue. It was established by Henry I in the 12th century, and its name refers to the checkered cloth on which the reckoning of revenues took place. Originally, the lower Exchequer was an office for the receipt and payment of money, while the upper Exchequer was a court sitting twice a year to regulate accounts. The English judicial system grew out of the upper Exchequer, and the lower Exchequer became the Treasury. "Exchequer" is still the unofficial name of the Treasury in Britain
Derived from the checked cloth used in the Middle Ages by a lord's bailiffs to assist in counting rents and other fees from his tenants, the term refers to a treasury, and by extension to the person in charge of the treasury