Ideally, from a transparency perspective, what we ask for is that the numbers that appeared in the original budget document appear alongside the results at the end of the year. I will also note the government's move to a fall budget does leave some question about what the 2026 public accounts will compare to.
However, your question is on in-year changes. Many governments simply restate the budget projections due to the events that happen during the year, but it's much better when governments present a reconciliation of these restatements, again, all drawing back to the original budget documents. When restatements happen in between actual documents, it represents a very significant barrier for our conceptual non-expert reader in assessing the fiscal story of the government for the year.
