Scottish Canals’ response to Audit Scotland’s disclaimer of opinion

A spokesperson for Scottish Canals said:

“From 1 April 2020 Scottish Canals had to change the way it prepares its Annual Report & Accounts in line with the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) and this led to our 2020/21 accounts being restated. However, our external auditors, Grant Thornton, raised new queries over the nature of the capital and revenue expenditure on the unique, operational, assets in our care and in the way they have been valued since we became a stand-alone public body in 2012. Subsequently they determined that a Disclaimer of opinion on financial statements should be placed on our 2020/21 accounts while additional work is carried out.

“We are now working, with the support of Transport Scotland, Scottish Government, and Grant Thornton, to resolve this highly complex matter and agree a new way of valuing our entire asset estate. Once this is in place it will inform the way we prepare our Annual Report & Accounts going forward.”

Scottish Canals’ Annual Report and Accounts containing our operational and financial review for the past year (2020-2021) is available to view on our website here.