Accounts Commission

Accounts Commission

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.

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

 

Our next meeting

Commission members

Our next meeting takes place on 7 November 2024.

 

Our meetings

  Download transcript of the Accounts Commission's video - RTF 54Kb 

Commission member, Ruth MacLeod talks about the October 2024 Accounts Commission meeting.

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

Our latest report

  Download animation transcript - RTF 54Kb

Key facts from our Controller of Audit report on the City of Edinburgh Council.

Latest news

The City of Edinburgh Council must listen and act on community views

It is crucial that the City of Edinburgh Council continues to engage with and then act on the views of its residents and communities as it considers options to make the significant savings…

Faster reform needed to protect key services

Councils have been transforming how they operate and deliver services for many years.Now reform is increasingly urgent – councils have never faced such acute challenges, putting budgets and…

Social media

Accounts Commission

What we do

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

Find out more about each of the areas below:

Annual audit reports
 

Auditing the accounts of all councils in Scotland

Best Value reports
 

Reporting on councils' duty of continuous improvement

Local government overview

Reporting on local government's financial and overall performance

Performance audit reports  

Auditing the efficiency and effectiveness of services

Statutory reports
 

Highlighting issues found in a council's annual audit

Housing benefit audit
 

Reporting on councils'  benefit services

Council performance reporting

Specifying what performance information councils must publish

Local government scrutiny

Working with other bodies to improve the scrutiny of councils

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.

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