Information about how much the corporation spends on corporate hospitality for its highly-paid actors and presenters will not be disclosed, which has led observers into drawing parallels between the BBC and the expenses scandal facing MPs.
The BBC has brought forward plans to publish details of its bosses' expenses claims in response to calls for full disclosure -- but the corporation is expected to remove more controversial information about how much it lavishes on its stars.
Executives' justification for doing so is an exemption in the Freedom of Information act that allows it to keep secret information related to its "journalism, art or literature".
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, told The Times: "It's just not good enough.
"We are moving towards transparency in relation to people who are paid from the public purse.
"It was right that MPs were forced to do so. I do not see why the same discipline should not apply to those who are highly paid at the taxpayers' expense at the BBC."
According to the newspaper, some BBC executives have claimed as much as £1,000 a month on lunches, hotels and theatre trips.
To date, only BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons and his fellow trustees have disclosed details of their expenses. Disclosure from other BBC executives is expected to be made as early as today.
Last year, the BBC's top 10 executives claimed £145,000 on expenses, but details of what the money was spent on have not been revealed until today.
Mark Thompson, who last year claimed £9,000 in expenses, yesterday told the Radio 4's 'Media Show' that "top talent costs perhaps 2% of the licence fee", which amounts to about £72m.
He also claimed on the show that there was an agenda behind plans by government policymakers to divert part of the £3.6bn licence fee away from the BBC.
He accused policymakers of being "ideologically focused" on attacking the BBC's funding structure, a move he argued threatened the "independence and ability of the BBC to deliver its services".
The Department of Culture issued a statement in response to his comments, saying it was "disappointed" by his comments" and hoped that the BBC would "engage constructively in the forthcoming consultation".
Separately, the BBC yesterday pledged to ban "malicious intrusion, intimidation and humiliation" from its entertainment programmes as part of a review of its editorial standards.
The pronouncement comes in the wake of the "Sachsgate" scandal in which Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand made a series of lewd phone calls to actor Jonathan Sachs.
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