AbstractThis article offers an original analytical scheme to study the institutional morphology of the financial control function in constitutional democracies, comprehensively integrating five control subsystems: internal, external, jurisdictional, political, and social. First of all we aim to answer a formal question: To what extent does a hierarchical and stratified architecture properly structure the financial control systems in constitutional democracies? Second, we address two design questions: How can we improve financial control by building upon the interconnections among the different control subsystems? And, what kind of dysfunctionalities might appear if the hierarchically stratified design of the control pyramid is not respected? The approach is predominantly legal‐institutionalist, exploring transnational control standards (with a particular focus on the European Union) and their translation into national control systems. The study is supported by an extensive literature review and a series of interviews with practitioners.