E-publishing success for Audit Scotland

A commitment to e-publishing has seen a significant decline in the size of Audit Scotland print runs in recent months – with thousands of people receiving reports and updates via email.

Following a survey of stakeholders and research which showed a 40 per cent increase in readership of Audit Scotland reports through tablet and other electronic communication devices, the public spending watchdog made a move to e-publishing in April this year.

In 2013/14, the average print run for Audit Scotland's national reports was approximately 300 copies – demonstrating a steady decline from the 1,000 copies printed per report in 2008. This figure has continued to shrink over the past year to as little as 50 for Accounts Commission reports, and no higher than 100 for reports produced for the Auditor General for Scotland, which are laid before MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.

Diane McGiffen, Chief Operating Officer, said: "The decision to focus on e-publishing has had various benefits for Audit Scotland; as well as being more efficient and cost-effective, it provided an exciting opportunity to redesign how we communicated our key messages to online viewers by adding rich, interactive layers of information to the content of our reports.

"We've received positive feedback from our stakeholders since embracing this opportunity; most recently with the publication of our Annual Review 2013/14. We hope to be able to reduce print runs even further in the future, as the number of people signed up to receive our reports online continues to climb."

A switch to digital distribution service Gov Delivery in May 2013 has seen a 129 per cent surge in the number of people signed up for online news and reports from Audit Scotland in the past 12 months; with a total of 6563 subscribers now receiving regularly updates on as many as 178 different subjects.

To sign up to receive all the latest news and reports from Audit Scotland via Gov Delivery, visit https://public.govdelivery.com