Understandability and Transparency of the Financial Statements of ...

CHAPTER 5: ACCOUNTABILITY
5.1 Introduction
Accountability is the theoretical lens through which the results of this research will be
viewed. But the theoretical concept of accountability adopted here needs to be
explicated first, since accountability is a wide and loosely used term found in all aspects
of society.
The structure of this chapter is set out as follows. First, the chapter theorises the general
view of accountability before focusing on charitable accountability. Then the chapter
assesses Fishman‟s (2007) two key questions to be resolved regarding accountability: to
whom are charities accountable, and how can accountability be discharged? Second, the
chapter will examine the relationships between the accountability concept and both
transparency and governance. Third, the chapter will consider different concepts of
accountability before finally analysing some of the limitations of accountability.
5.2 Theorisation of Accountability
Ebrahim (2003) considers that accountability is a term that often evades clear definition.
This is seen even in the dictionary where the Penguin English Dictionary (2000) gives
eleven different definitions for accountability. Hyndman and McDonnell (2009) also
highlight that accountability may have more than one meaning.
Hence, authors have been grappling with the definition of accountability for many
years. The seminal work by Stewart (1984) gave an overview of several older
definitions and identified that there were two parts to accountability prevalent in these
definitions - the need for information, i.e. „the account‟, and the judgement or „the
holding to account‟. Roberts and Scapens (1985, p. 447) incorporated these two strands
in their definition of accountability as the: “Giving and demanding of reasons for
conduct”.
The last ten years has seen an increasing body of literature on accountability. Some
authors have not attempted to enter into the quagmire of definitions in their particular
article but have stated accountability as a term that assumes understanding before
focusing on a particular aspect of accountability such as the discharge mechanisms
(Adams, 2004; Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, 2006; Brennan &
Solomon, 2008; Dicke, 2002; Lee & Fisher, 2007; Lindkvist & Llewellyn, 2003; Watts,
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