Publication: Annual report 2025/26

by Audit Scotland

Annual report and accounts 2025/26

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2025/26 in numbers

  • 253 Accounts audited
  • 17 National performance audits
  • 9 Best Value in local government reports
  • 68 Parliamentary engagements
  • £58.6bn

    Devolved public spending audited

Chair's 
welcome

In a period of sustained, significant pressure on public services and finances, public audit needs to make a positive impact.

During 2025/26, we undertook an in-depth evaluation of the contributions we make to improving the management, oversight and reporting of £60 billion of public spending, and to how services improve the lives and outcomes of Scotland’s people and communities.

The review – our mid-term evaluation of progress against our purpose statement, Public audit in Scotland – finds we make an important and valued contribution to improvement at public bodies and to parliamentary scrutiny. It also sets out what we need to do to better understand and increase our impact.

Colin Crosby OBE
Chair of the Audit Scotland Board

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Accountable Officer’s report

Scotland’s public services continue to operate under significant and growing financial pressure. Across our audit work, we have highlighted risks to long-term financial sustainability and the implications these have for the delivery of services.

Public audit has a unique view across public services, and we can make an important contribution by providing independent assurance, insight and reporting in the public interest. In recent years, our work and that of others has contributed to a greater focus on public service reform, and there are examples of action being taken across the public sector.

Stephen Boyle
Accountable Officer and Auditor General for Scotland

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Our year

The infographics below are all interactive. Click on each to learn more about our work during 2025/26.

Annual audits

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Performance audits

The map below lists our Performance audit reports, Best Value reports and Statutory reports.

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Best Value Assurance

The map below lists our Best Value reports.

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Making a difference

Supporting diversity, equality and inclusion

Our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy 2025–29 sets out an ambitious vision: to be leaders in the Scottish public sector, with a workforce reflective of Scotland’s people and an inclusive culture that delivers audit work addressing inequalities and supporting human rights.

In 2025/26, the first year of delivery, we made strong progress. Of 18 priority actions, 13 are advancing well, with the remainder continuing at a slower pace.

Key achievements for the year include:

  • introducing disability awareness training within mandatory learning
  • launching an employee passport scheme to support colleagues with disabilities or long-term health conditions
  • expanding our reverse mentoring programme between leaders and staff
  • delivering cultural awareness activities and enhanced induction sessions through our race, ethnicity and cultural heritage (REACH) network
  • providing strengthened communications on maternity returner support
  • embedding flexible working and menopause support in recruitment
  • and developing new language guidance for auditors alongside early updates to equalities guidance.

In the coming year, we will build on this progress by addressing training gaps in human and child rights, expanding inclusion training, and embedding a new Equality Impact Assessment register. We will also improve DEI data collection and reporting.

These actions will support a more inclusive culture, a workforce representative of Scotland’s people, and delivery of our strategy's vision.

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