This Committee has continually advocated for the use of Accounting Officer (AO) Assessments to support high quality decision-making and enhance transparency. The Treasury’s guidance suggests that it is good practice for an AO Assessment to be produced for each significant novel and contentious transaction or proposal involving the use of public funds.36 Our 2022 report on Improving the Accounting Officer Assessment process 27 C&AG’s Report, para 3.10; Q48 28 Q27 29 Q22 30 Committee of Public Accounts, Improving government planning and spending, Seventy-Eighth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 1596, 8 February 2019, Conclusions and recommendations para 1 31 Institute for Government, Whitehall Monitor 2024, January 2024, page 19 32 Q16 33 Q69 34 Qq33–34 35 Q37 36 HM Treasury, Accounting Officer Assessments: Guidance, May 2023 Monitoring and responding to companies in distress 13 found that departments do not make as much use of these assessments as they should.37 The quality of these assessments varies across departments, with some not providing sufficient detail to allow for a good understanding of the programme or the accounting officer’s assessment of risks.