Audit Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Buidheann-sgrùdaidh na h-Alba) is an independent public body responsible for auditing most of Scotland's public organisations. These include the Scottish Government, local councils and NHS Scotland.
| Scottish Gaelic: Buidheann-sgrùdaidh na h-Alba | |
 Official logo of Audit Scotland | |
| Independent public body overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 February 2000 |
| Jurisdiction | Scottish Government |
| Status | Active |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Employees | 346 FTE |
| Annual budget | £30.6 million (2022-23) |
| Independent public body executives |
|
| Website | audit |
| Footnotes | |
| [1][2] | |
Auditing role
It audits over 220 organisations, including:[3]
- 77 central government bodies (Scottish Government, NDPB's, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Water and others)
- 23 NHS bodies
- 32 local councils
- 20 further education colleges
History
Audit Scotland was established in 2000. It employees a staff of around 250 people.[4]
Its corporate HQ is on West Port, in Edinburgh's Old Town. The role of Audit Scotland is to provide the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission for Scotland with the services they need to carry out their duties. The core work is to carry out:
- financial audits to help ensure that public sector bodies adhere to the highest standards of financial management and governance
- performance audits to help ensure that these bodies achieve the best possible value for money.
Stephen Boyle is the Auditor General for Scotland and the accountable officer for Audit Scotland. He started his term of office in July 2020.[5]
The work of Audit Scotland is governed by a board which meets around four times a year: the audits are managed by a management team. The Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee of the Scottish Parliament examines Audit Scotland's proposals for the use of resources and expenditure, then reports to the Scottish Parliament.