First Minister Humza Yousaf has revealed auditors who worked for the SNP resigned nearly six months ago.
But the party never made the disclosure public and no replacement has been found.
Yousaf, who recently took over from Nicola Sturgeon, said: “It’s certainly problematic, I won’t deny that at all.”
The SNP is in crisis over a police investigation into how around £600,000 of indyref2 donations were spent.
Cops raided the house of ex-SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, who is married to Nicola Sturgeon, as part of the probe.
He was arrested and then released without charge.
It then emerged that the firm Johnston Carmichael, who had audited the SNP’s accounts, had quit, but no timescale was offered.
At an event in Edinburgh, Yousaf said: "They resigned last year. I think it was in roundabout October last year. I need to double check that of course for you. But look, the fact that we don't have auditors in place is one of the major priorities."
He added: “I've instructed the party to get on with finding another auditor.”
Put to him that he and other senior people in the party had not been told about the auditors quitting, the former Health Secretary said:
“I wasn't at the top of the party then. I was a government minister, you're right, but didn't have an office bearing position. I don't disagree with the premise of your question. That's clearly why I've asked the NEC [SNP governing body] to do a review around governance and transparency.”
Asked why Johnston Carmichael resigned, he said: “I don't think we can release that information.”
He also said the SNP would not be paying Murrell's legal bills.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: "The plot thickens and thickens. That the SNP did not come clean about this for months stinks to high heavens. It is deeply worrying if they have been unable to replace the auditors in all this time. It is time for the secrecy to end."
It comes after a senior SNP said the party faces its biggest crisis in 50 years amid the police investigation into its finances.
Mike Russell, the SNP president and a former minister, also said he does not think independence can be achieved “right now”.
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