Question reference: S5W-30458
- Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 3 July 2020
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Current status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 July 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to establishing a single set of consolidated accounts for the public sector, showing revenue-funded commitments alongside total public sector assets and liabilities, to increase the transparency of the overall financial position of the public sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government complies with all financial reporting and auditing requirements and is developing its financial reporting to support transparency and the understanding of the financial picture. A commitment has been made to produce a further consolidated account covering the whole of the devolved public sector in Scotland and considerable progress has been made.
The Public Finance and Accountability Act 2000 requires consolidated public accounts to be audited before they can be laid and published; there is ongoing engagement with Audit Scotland in relation to the audit of draft accounts.
This further account will bring together information across the devolved public sector, but that information is already available in published accounts of the relevant bodies.