The Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission for Scotland require to appoint external auditors for the audit of several public sector bodies within their remits. This work is expected to compromise 36 % by value of their overall annual audit work. These appointments are for the audit years 2016/17 to 2020/21.

Applicants must satisfy statutory qualification requirements. The conduct of the audits is also governed by Audit Scotland's Code of Audit Practice, which is wider in scope than for the audit of private sector organisations, and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland).