The conceptual work of Accountability:

In an accountability relationship, the accountor is to give an account to the accountee on what the accountor did. If the accountor refuses to give the account or the account is not satisfactory, the accountor would be sanctioned by the acccountee.

Section 1

Use the conceptual work of accountability to identify accountor, accountee, and account in each of the following accountability instances (9 marks):

(i) A petrol station sells petrol to car drivers.

(ii) A chess club organizes chess tournaments to serve club members.

(iii) A government discloses new policy to citizens.

Section 2

Study the teacher-students scenario:

A teacher delivers lectures to students; and then students submit assignment reports to the teacher.

(1) Explain: what is accountability in this scenario? (5 marks)

There is a unidirectional account view in literature:

In a social system, the positions of accountor and accountee must be fixed, and account giving must be unidirectional.

That is, for A and B; A must be always accountee, and B must always be accountor. And accountability is always realised by accounts given by B to A.

(2)Use the teacher-students scenario to critique this unidirectional account view. (6 marks)

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Section 3

An accounting theorist tries to establish a conceptual framework of accounting for charity. The theorist collects empirical data from a religious charity. The framework is expected to explain how this charity received and used donations.

The theorist considers whether Agency Theory or Accountability Theory should be used as the theoretical base for this charity-accounting framework.

(1)What are the similarities and differences between Agency Theory and Accountability Theory? (5 marks)

(2)If you were the theorist, which theory you should select as the base of this research? (5 marks)