accountability
Owning your actions
Accountability is the state of being answerable for your actions or decisions, especially when things go wrong.
If you have accountability for something, you're expected to explain or justify what happened and accept consequences.
The word often appears in discussions of leadership, governance, and workplace responsibility: The CEO demanded accountability from her management team.
To hold someone accountable is to require them to answer for their conduct.
Accountability implies that blame or credit will be assigned based on outcomes.
Required moral task
- obligationRequired task or commitment
- stewardshipResponsible care of entrusted things
- ownershipLegal right of possession
- custodianshipResponsibility for care, protection
trust · charge · burden · answerability · culpability · liability · dependability · reliability
Moral soundness and consistency
- honestyTruthfulness, sincerity
- trustworthinessQuality of being reliable
- probityThorough moral honesty
- rectitudeMoral straightness
uprightness · conscientiousness · honor · virtue · morality · principles · fairness · scrupulousness
Act of revealing information
- opennessQuality of being accessible
- reportingConveying documented information
- oversightSupervision or inadvertent omission
- scrutinyClose, careful examination
auditability · visibility · audit · sunshine · clarity · accessibility · monitoring · review
Punishment for wrongdoing
- sanctionApproval or punitive measure
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
- repercussionIndirect result of action
- redressCompensation for injury
restitution · reckoning · judgment · correction · remedy · amends · atonement · retribution
Official rules governing conduct
- complianceAdhering to requirements
- oversightSupervision or inadvertent omission
- anti-corruptionOpposing abuse of office
- democracyRule by the people
ombudsman · parliamentary · legislative · judicial · executive · constitutional · term-limits · electoral
duty
Required moral task
- obligationRequired task or commitment
- stewardshipResponsible care of entrusted things
- ownershipLegal right of possession
custodianship · trust · charge · burden · answerability · culpability · liability · dependability · reliability · onus
integrity
Moral soundness and consistency
- honestyTruthfulness, sincerity
- trustworthinessQuality of being reliable
- probityThorough moral honesty
rectitude · uprightness · conscientiousness · honor · virtue · morality · principles · fairness · scrupulousness · decency
disclosure
Act of revealing information
- opennessQuality of being accessible
- reportingConveying documented information
- oversightSupervision or inadvertent omission
scrutiny · auditability · visibility · audit · sunshine · clarity · accessibility · monitoring · review · inspection
penalty
Punishment for wrongdoing
- sanctionApproval or punitive measure
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
- repercussionIndirect result of action
redress · restitution · reckoning · judgment · correction · remedy · amends · atonement · retribution · enforcement
regulation
Official rules governing conduct
- complianceAdhering to requirements
- oversightSupervision or inadvertent omission
- anti-corruptionOpposing abuse of office
democracy · ombudsman · parliamentary · legislative · judicial · executive · constitutional · term-limits · electoral
- governancegovernance, government, democracy, vote, parliament
- leadershipleadership styles, leader, leadership skills, boss, leading
- life skillsreading, writing, cooking, cleaning, laundry
- valuesvalue, honesty, worth, fairness, morals
- workplace skillsemail etiquette, time management, teamwork, communication, deadlines
- relationship valuestrust, loyalty, respect, honesty, commitment
accountabilityimpunity
Freedom from consequences
unaccountability · irresponsibility · immunity · unanswerability · getting away with it
accountabilitysecrecy
Practice of hiding information
opacity · concealment · obscurity · cover-up · non-disclosure
accountabilityunaccountability
Absence of obligation to explain
irresponsibility · impunity · deniability · plausible deniability · buck-passing
- police accountabilityScrutiny of law enforcement conduct
- governmental accountabilityOfficials answering for decisions
- accountability partnerSomeone holding you responsible
- accountability buddySomeone who monitors your commitments
- public accountabilityOfficials' duty to explain actions
- accountability buddiesPeers who monitor mutual goals