We help the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission with monitoring public money...
The Accounts Commission is the public spending watchdog for local government...
The Auditor General for Scotland is responsible for the audit of most public bodies...
The Accounts Commission is the public spending watchdog for local government. We hold councils in Scotland to account and help them improve.
We operate impartially and independently of councils and of the Scottish Government and we meet and report in public.
The Commission is responsible for coordinating and facilitating scrutiny in local government.
The Controller of Audit is a statutory post established alongside the Commission in 1975. The Controller reports to the Commission and highlights areas of concern.
Read more about the Commission's role, duties and powers (PDF | 47KB). - Opens in a new window
Follow us on Twitter @AccCommScot.
Glasgow City Council has successfully delivered a challenging project to finance £500 million in equal pay claims. A report by the Accounts Commission, Scotland’s local authority watchdog...
Highland Council must make significant savings and change the way it delivers services to ensure it can live within its financial means. A report by the Accounts Commission, Scotland’s...
The Commission publishes financial audits on each council in Scotland and an annual overview report on local government, as well as individual reports about council services.
Our strategy and annual action plan outlines our priorities for the coming year. Read more about our strategy.
Find out more about what we do in our short video.
The update to our 2015 report found that some improvements have been made to the delivery of health and social care services, but there needs to be a stronger commitment to collaborative working.
We found that the council's services largely perform well, and the council manages its resources effectively. It now needs to get better at identifying where and how it needs to change to meet future challenges.
Our report in 2016 found that urgent action was needed to improve the condition of Scotland's roads. In 2018 we looked at the impact our report had made.
As well as auditing all local authorities in Scotland, the Commission looks at any issues arising from those audits and how well bodies are meeting Best Value duties. Find out more about each of the areas below:
It was the last Accounts Commission meeting of 2019.
Commission members considered a briefing on preparing for withdrawal from the European Union. This briefing considers evidence and intelligence from a wide range of Annual Audit Reports. Whilst EU withdrawal preparedness is at a reasonable level, preparing for this has diverted attention away from other areas, whilst compounding and intensifying existing pressures. The briefing is due to be published on the Audit Scotland website in December.
Other items under discussion include:
The Commission also discussed a report on Best Value statutory guidance. This is an important milestone and the Commission agreed to endorse the Scottish Government’s guidance.
The next meeting of the Accounts Commission takes place on 9 January 2020.
Our meetings are open to the public. Find out how to attend.
The public in general are our principal stakeholder but we engage with a wide range of others. Find out more about who we engage with and what our main activities are.
Who we engage with:
Audit Scotland
