About us

The Accounts Commission holds councils and other local government bodies in Scotland to account and helps them improve by reporting to the public on their performance.

We operate impartially and independently of councils and of the Scottish Government.

Read our Strategy 2021-26 which sets out our aims, the priorities we will use in fulfilling these aims, and the principles and approaches used to shape our reporting.

Read our latest newsletter. This newsletter updates councillors on our recent work.

See our joint work programme with the Auditor General for Scotland to find out what we are planning to report on this year.

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Our next meeting

Commission members

Our next meeting takes place on 12 October 2023.

 

Our meetings

  Download transcript of the Accounts Commission's video - RTF 49Kb

Commission member Malcolm Bell talks about our work.

All meetings are recorded and can be obtained on request from info@audit-scotland.gov.uk.

Our latest report

  Download transcript of The 2021/22 audit of Glasgow City Council video. - RTF 99Kb

Some of the key facts from our latest report on The 2021/22 audit of Glasgow City Council.

Find more of our latest reports here

Latest news

New Accounts Commission members appointed

Four new members of the Accounts Commission have been appointed by Joe FitzPatrick, Minister for Local Government, Empowerment and Planning. The new members are: Carol Evans, Angela Leitch...

Access to mental health services slow and complicated

Accessing adult mental health services in Scotland remains slow and complicated for many people. In particular, ethnic minority groups, people living in rural areas and those in poverty all...

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What we do

Download the Commission's role, duties and powers (PDF | 47KB)

Find out more about each of the areas below:

annual audits

Annual audit reports
 

Auditing the accounts of all councils in Scotland

best value

Best Value reports
 

Reporting on councils' duty of continuous improvement

local government overview

Local government overview

Reporting on local government's financial and overall performance

performance

Performance audit reports  

Auditing the efficiency and effectiveness of services

statutory reports

Statutory reports
 

Highlighting issues found in a council's annual audit

housing benefit

Housing benefit audit
 

Reporting on councils'  benefit services

council performance

Council performance reporting

Specifying what performance information councils must publish

local government scrutiny

Local government scrutiny

Working with other bodies to improve the scrutiny of councils

how councils work

How councils work reports

Providing practical support to help improvement in local government

 

Who we engage with

The public in general are our principal stakeholder but we engage with a wide range of others.

Engaging with stakeholders

Who we engage with:

  • Audit Scotland
  • Auditor General
  • Citizens
  • Parliament and Government: Government ministers, MSPs, Parliament committees
  • Local government: councils, joint boards, COSLA, SLGP, SOLACE, Improvement Service
  • Councils' community planning partners: public, private and third sectors, local communities
  • Other stakeholders: Equalities and Human Rights Commission, other UK audit and scrutiny bodies, professional bodies, trade unions
  • Press and broadcasting media
  • Scrutiny partners
  • Private sector audit firms