The new decree that changes the accounting rules in public administration establishes that Portuguese intelligence services stop presenting certified accounts. This change comes within the scope of a reformulation of the accounting standards applicable to the public sector.
In place of certified accounts, the so-called "secret services" will now produce a paper-format management report. This document will be the form of accountability for these intelligence services.
The main reason for this change relates to the need to protect classified information. The traditional format of certified accounts involved the transmission of sensitive data electronically, which represented a risk to the security of that information.
With this measure, the executive aims to ensure that intelligence services can fulfill their transparency obligations without compromising the confidentiality of the operations they carry out.
