The accountability of community sector agencies: a comparative framework

Abstract

Accountability in community sector organisations is analysed in comparison with the public and private for-profit sectors, according to a number of variables: who is accountable (collective and individual); for what they are accountable (legal compliance and financial reporting, general performance, treatment of individual clients); and to whom they are accountable (the public, ‘owners’, and ‘clients’). Accountability of individual members within organisations is also explored. ‘Accountability’ to personal values is misleadingly so named. The community sector has significantly less accountability.