Chancellor George Osborne has accused the previous government of being "totally irresponsible" as an audit of the nation’s finances gets under way.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Osborne said officials were finding all sorts of "skeletons in various cupboards" left by Labour.
It comes as the Treasury is set to re-examine all spending decisions approved by Whitehall this year.
Meanwhile, Mr Osborne is launching the new Office of Budget Responsibility.
This new watchdog will begin its own financial review and will produce its own independent forecasts for economic growth.
Mr Osborne is expected to use this detail, instead of Treasury predictions, for next month’s emergency budget.
He told the newspaper: "We are finding all sorts of skeletons in various cupboards and all sorts of decisions taken at the last minute.
"By the end, the previous government was totally irresponsible and has left this country with absolutely terrible public finance," he said.
Before becoming coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats had argued that spending cuts should be delayed until next year.
However the coalition deal meant they signed up to the immediate budget reduction plan.
Later this week, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary of the Treasury, David Laws, will meet cabinet colleagues to agree where £6bn of cuts this year will fall.
On Sunday, David Cameron told the BBC One’s Andrew Marr show that an audit of the government’s books had already found some "crazy" spending decisions.
As an example, the prime minister highlighted bonuses for 75% of senior civil servants.
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