The Treasury has been accused of manipulating new accounting rules to keep Private Finance Initiatives off the balance sheets of government departments.
Under the new rules, most existing PFIs would have to be included in a department's liabilities, effectively showing up as an increase in public debt.
However, critics allege that guidelines issued by the Treasury on how to deal with the changes are designed to keep projects off balance sheets for as long as possible.
Speaking to BBC File on 4, David Heald, professor of accountancy at the University of Aberdeen, explained that this possibility raises some major questions about PFI.
"If these projects are good value for money that is fine, but if they've been driven solely by accounting treatment there's sufficient evidence to worry if they are good value for money," he said.
The Treasury was not available to comment on the issue.
In February 2009, there were more than 600 PFIs that had reached financial close.
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