Accountability

How it is used

Very common in management, governance texts and job descriptions. Leaders take accountability and hold people accountable for results. The adjective is accountable: accountable for a result, accountable to the board.

Example sentences

1. If three people own the same project, there's no real accountability.

2. The new structure gives each regional manager full accountability for their sales figures.

3. She took accountability for the delay and explained how it would be fixed.

Common collocations

• take accountability
• clear accountability
• culture of accountability
• hold someone accountable
• lack of accountability

Related terms

• ownershipIn management, the attitude of treating a task or problem as your own and taking responsibility for getting it done, rather than waiting for someone else to act.
• delegateTo give part of your work, responsibility or decision-making power to someone else, usually a person in your team, while still checking that the result is achieved.
• RACI matrixA table that shows, for each task or decision, who is Responsible, who is Accountable, who must be Consulted and who must be Informed.
• authorityThe official power or right to make decisions, give instructions and use resources, usually linked to a person's role in an organisation.
• transparencyThe practice of sharing information openly and honestly, so that employees, shareholders or the public can see how decisions are made and how the organisation is doing.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• accountability · Politics & Government
• accountability · Public Administration

More terms: Delegation and Accountability

• empower
• micromanage
• workload
• follow up
• handover