About us

Auditor General

The Auditor General for Scotland is responsible for the audit of most public bodies...

Accounts Commission

The Accounts Commission holds local government bodies in Scotland to account…

Audit Scotland

We help the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission with monitoring public money...

 Download a transcript of our animation - RTF 83Kb

Our vision is that public money is well spent to meet the needs of Scotland's people

To achieve this, we will provide clear, independent and objective assurance on how effectively public money is being managed and spent.

Our work covers about £57bn of public spending, almost 300 public sector accounts, and the services and projects that affect all people and communities in Scotland.

What we do

We deliver financial and performance audits on public bodies and the management of public services, policies and major projects. We also work with scrutiny partners and stakeholders to cover the wide range of services the public use and rely on.

Our work

  • Deliver annual audits on almost 300 public accounts, and statutory reports on issues found
  • Performance audits on public services, and Best Value reports on local authorities
  • Briefing and blogs on areas of public interest
  • National Fraud Initiative and housing benefit reports
  • Communications and engagement
Our work

Principles of audit

The Code of Audit Practice sets the principles for public audit:

  • Independence
  • Wider scope
  • Transparent public reporting
  • Relevance
Code of Audit Practice 2021

Our priorities 2023-28

  • Timely and impactful annual audit
  • Dynamic performance audit programme
  • Enhanced audit approaches
  • Developing our people and our business
  • Insights driving innovation and improvement
Corporate plan 2023-28

How we do it

Our values

Our values are at the heart of everything we do, from how we plan our business and approach our audits to how we behave and treat people.

Equality

  • Treat all people fairly and support them to have the best chance to progress and succeed
  • Broaden our culture of diversity and inclusion, so people are valued and engaged
  • Apply our standards of quality and professionalism to all our work
  • Embed equality in all we do, and support public bodies to address inequalities

Independence

  • Work in the public interest and for that interest only
  • Be apolitical and work free from interference or influence
  • Safeguard and protect our independence strongly
  • Make objective and evidence-based judgements and recommendations

Innovation

  • Innovate and continuously improve in all that we do
  • Experiment, try new approaches, learn, share ideas and think differently
  • Be proactive in changing what we do and how we do it
  • Ensure our work is accessible, relevant and efficient

Integrity

  • Be honest and principled, and act professionally and ethically
  • Be transparent and accurate, and base all actions on evidence and the public interest
  • Protect our honesty and objectivity in the face of pressure, enticements or personal opinions

Respect

  • Treat people with kindness, courtesy and empathy
  • Build supportive relationships based on trust and honesty
  • Seek to understand, and respect differences of opinion, approaches and background

Audit can drive change ...

We are responsive, innovative and ambitious in our work and in how we develop Audit Scotland as an organisation. We deliver our strategic priorities in three ways:

Assure:
Delivering core value

  • Provide assurance on public spending through high-quality audit work.
  • Protect the foundations for strong public audit by remaining a stable and reliable organisation.
  • Maintain and strengthen core activities, and recognise when approaches and products are outdated.

Improve:
Sustaining positive change

  • Support positive changes in public services through wider scope work and Best Value and performance audit products.
  • Maximise our impact and be more efficient and effective, through experimentation and innovation.

Transform:
Supporting transformation and reform

  • Share good practice and support innovation to facilitate radical changes in public services.
  • Deliver transformative innovation and radical changes in our audit approach and new ways of working.
  • Lead the public audit system in Scotland and thinking in the audit sector.

For more detail on how we apply this to each of our priorities, read our Corporate Plan.

How we perform

Annual report and accounts 2022/23

Annual report and accounts 2022/23

Published in June 2023

We report on our performance externally through our annual report. We will also report in public on our performance against the four outcomes.

Read the full report and other information

Public audit in Scotland

Public audit in Scotland

Published in June 2023

We evaluate our impact against the four outcomes in Public audit in Scotland and monitor the delivery of our Corporate Plan.