Professor Arthur Midwinter, who was commissioned by Aberdeen City Council to prepare a report on its excess spending, said that there was a shortfall of 135m across the country in 2003/04 between councils' allocated grant-aided expenditure and their actual spending.
He said there was a "clear case" for the Executive to review the funding of children's social services, and claimed it could fail to meet its own objectives for children's services if it didn't address the problem.
But the Executive said it was "incorrect" to conclude that it was in danger of failing to meet its objectives.
A spokesman said: "Grant-aided expenditure represents the amount of expenditure that the Scottish Executive is prepared to support through grant, and it is used to distribute the available grant between local authorities on the basis of need.
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