Scottish councils have reduced their spending by 11% between 2010/11 and 2015/16, according to a new report.
Investment in areas such as child protection has increased significantly, while leisure services, parks and road maintenance have seen cuts.
Analysis of local authority spending is contained in the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) report from council body Cosla's improvement service.
It found Scotland's 32 councils reduced their spending from £17.18 billion in 2010/11 to £15.3 billion in 2015/16 - an 11% real terms cut.
Education spending was down 4%, while child protection has grown by 19%.
Elsewhere investment in adult social care increased by 6% and waste disposal spend linked to the transition from landfill to recycling increased by 11%.
Substantial cuts to spending were seen by leisure and culture services, down by 12%, parks and open spaces, down 18%, roads maintenance, down 21% and corporate and democratic services down 14%.
The report noted: "While councils have continued to maintain and improve service outputs and outcomes across the majority of service areas in the last 12 months, there is evidence that the ongoing budget constraints are beginning to impact upon some service areas."
It outlines improvements in educational attainment, but notes there is still a "substantial gap between the most deprived and the average".
It also found satisfaction with schools has fallen for the third year in a row, down from 79% to 74% in the last year, and down nine percentage points from 2010/11.
While spending on adult social care has grown, the increase is not necessarily at the level needed to keep up with the ageing population, the report found.
Public satisfaction rates for all culture and leisure facilities have fallen in the last 12 months, the report states, while satisfaction rates for refuse collection and street cleaning have fallen since 2014/15, by 2% and 1% respectively.
It notes attendance at sports and leisure facilities has increased, while the use of libraries has also grown.
"This absorption of major cuts while improving performance is an impressive achievement and there is a danger it is taken for granted - an assumption that, because savings have been made without a crisis of performance, savings can be continuously required and made," the report says.
"In reality, the trends required an overall reduction in the workforce of 13%, staff accepting year on year real reductions in wages, and substantial improvements in efficiency, productivity and innovation.
"If similar savings were necessary again across the next five years, severe issues of capacity, resilience and maintaining performance will need addressed."
The organisation's president David O'Neill said: "There are some real positive things in today's report - primarily that despite the financial pressures, Scotland's councils continue to cope with austerity particularly in services that are of the utmost importance to communities."
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