In ethics and governance, accountability is answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public sector, nonprofit and private (corporate) worlds. In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences.
In governance, accountability has expanded beyond the basic definition of "being called to account for one's actions". It is frequently described as an account-giving relationship between individuals, e.g. "A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct". Accountability cannot exist without proper accounting practices; in other words, an absence of accounting means an absence of accountability.
Read more about Accountability: History and Etymology, Types, Contemporary Evolution, Proposed Symbolism
Other articles related to "accountability":
... The commission proposes creating a public database, where statistics and other information about colleges and universities could be viewed by all in order to clarify the haziness of accountability ... The information that would be made available in the proposed database would include the cost, price, admissions data, and college completion rates of colleges ...
... On 25 June 2008 the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International (HAP) released a report on sexual exploitation and abuse, "To complain or not to complain ... and abuse is a predictable result of a failure of accountability to beneficiaries of humanitarian aid ... reason for this ‘humanitarian accountability deficit’ is the asymmetrical principal-agent relations that characterise most ‘humanitarian ...
... Canadians for Accountability is a non-profit organization established in 2008 to advocate on whistleblowing issues in Canada and provide support to both public sector ... Canadians for Accountability is Canada's only national whistleblower protection organization ...
... Stonecroft Ministries is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) ... As a member, Stonecroft must meet rigorous standards of accountability in such areas as fundraising, financial disclosure, confidentiality of donor ...