The Simple Analytics of Accountability

In this paper, the author offers a schematic that distinguishes the actors, interactions, and dynamics of various accountability relationships. A number of distinctions including those between responsibility and accountability, moral and legal accountability claims, and socially or governmentally generated demand for accountability are offered to assist those working on accountability policies or strategies and who may be struggling with generic conceptions of accountability that conflate all of these elements. This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 33.9. Hauser Working Paper Series Nos. 33.1-33.9 were prepared as background papers for the Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Symposium October 3-4, 2006

Nonprofit Board Accountability: A Literature Review and Critique

Accountability is a buzzword in today’s nonprofit society. The press is full of stories detailing the sordid affairs of nonprofit organizations that have betrayed the confidence and trust of the public. What does accountability mean to a nonprofit organization today? What role does the board play in establishing and maintaining this accountability? The purpose of this essay is to explore the current literature on board accountability and recommend a strategy for boards to follow in maintaining their own system of accountability. Three main areas of accountability will be addressed: financial and legal accountability, moral accountability, and outcomes accountability. Self-assessment tools will be reviewed as a means of identifying areas of accountability that a board may need to work on

Health Care Coverage: Job Lock and the Potential Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

[Excerpt] The majority of Americans—about 55 percent in 2010—rely on employer-sponsored health care coverage, which is largely subsidized by most employers and thus less costly to employees than coverage purchased by individuals on their own. Although a valued employee benefit, many believe that having health coverage tied to employment can influence workers to stay in jobs they might otherwise leave, a phenomenon generally known as “job lock.” The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), enacted in 2010, includes provisions that are designed to increase the accessibility and affordability of health coverage, particularly for individuals with preexisting health conditions. PPACA implementation is phased; though some provisions went into effect during the year of enactment, many provisions are scheduled to take effect in 2014. Some suggest that one benefit of PPACA may be a decrease in the occurrence of job lock. You asked us to examine job lock and the specific ways PPACA may affect it. Accordingly, we examined two key questions: 1. What has research shown about whether and the extent to which workers stay in jobs they might otherwise leave out of fear of losing health care coverage and the impact of those decisions on the labor market? 2. What are expert views on the ability of PPACA to mitigate job lock

Aspects of accountability and assessment in the Netherlands

This article describes aspects of test-based accountability in the Netherlands. It provides a description of the design of the Educational system in the Netherlands, it gives a short introduction to the role of the Dutch Inspectorate of Education in the accountability of schools and describes different assessments that are used as sources of information in the accountability system. For each assessment, the primary function in education and its role in the accountability system are discussed. Finally, the factors that can potentially influence the validity of the accountability indicators and the strong and weak points of the current system are identified and some directions are presented of potential developments of this system

Effective Accountability Mechanisms for New York State's English Language Learners

In September 2011, the New York State Department of Education convened a School and District Accountability Think Tank to provide public input regarding the creation of a second generation educational accountability system for the State's Elementary and Secondary Education Act waiver application. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) participated in the Think Tank and submitted a set of comprehensive recommendations regarding sound accountability practices for English Language Learners (ELLs). In May 2012, the U.S. Department of Education granted New York's waiver application, which included several of AALDEF's and AFC's recommendations. We believe our ELL accountability recommendations have relevance beyond the ESEA waiver, and now release this paper which sets forth key principles for a sound ELL accountability framework in New York State

Accountability and Moral Competence Promote Ethical Leadership

Accountability and moral competence are two factors that may have a positive effect on ethical leadership in organizations. This study utilized a survey methodology to investigate the relationship among accountability, moral competence and ethical leadership in a sample of 103 leaders from a variety of industries and different countries. Accountability was found to be a significant positive predictor of ethical leadership. Moral competence was also found to moderate this relationship such that increases in moral competence enhanced the positive effects of accountability on ethical leadership. The results of the study suggest that organizations can increase ethical leadership throughout the company via accountability (especially self-accountability) and moral competence by training their leaders to use self-monitoring behaviors and increasing moral education

Strengthening the accountability of independent regulatory agencies: From performance back to democracy

The autonomy of independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) raises concerns about how to keep them accountable. Remarkably, the process of Europeanisation has led to the emergence of a multilevel regulatory system linking IRAs to national and supranational actors but, on the other side, this process has influenced the capacity to make IRAs accountable. The literature about the accountability deficit of IRAs has tried to address this question, but the interplay between delegation, \u2018multi-levelisation\u2019 and accountability has not been thoroughly investigated yet. Notably, theoretical analysis of IRAs\u2019 accountability in multilevel regulatory environments is still scarce. This article is aimed at contributing to the debate by pointing out that any theoretical discussion about the accountability of IRAs should be framed in normative terms and, precisely, should reconsider a crucial dimension neglected so far, that is, the goals accountability is expected to achieve. The article, in fact, argues that in multilevel regulatory environments the impact of devices adopted to improve the accountability of IRAs is generally weakened by the presence of a \u2018neutral\u2019 idea of accountability, which dilutes its power. The only way to strengthen the effect of accountability is to bring politics and democratic values back into the regulatory process

Post-EQA Accountability: A Menu of Policy Options

In 2007, the Massachusetts Legislature decided to phase out the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA). Legislators and policymakers began exploring options for establishing a new accountability function for the Commonwealth's school districts.Accountability, one of the key components of standards-based education reform, is intended to spur academic achievement for all students by applying pressure and consequences to public schools and school districts. Aligned with the accountability provisions envisioned in the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) of 1993, the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA) was created by the Legislature in 2000 to provide an "independent mechanism to verify the efforts of school districts and charter schools in order to promote higher levels of academic achievement by students." However, EQA has faced steady criticism about the ways in which it has operated, and policymakers are determining a new way to perform the district accountability function.The Rennie Center's policy brief, entitled Post-EQA Accountability: A Menu of Policy Options, is intended to inform policy discussions focused on the creation of a new accountability function in Massachusetts. This brief includes case examples of accountability models from four other states -- New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and three countries -- England, New Zealand and Singapore

Fair Labor Standards Act: The Department of Labor Should Adopt a More Systematic Approach to Developing Its Guidance

The FLSA sets federal minimum wage and overtime pay requirements applicable to millions of U.S. workers and allows workers to sue employers for violating these requirements. Questions have been raised about the effect of FLSA lawsuits on employers and workers and about WHD\u27s enforcement and compliance assistance efforts as the number of lawsuits has increased. This report (1) describes what is known about the number of FLSA lawsuits filed, and (2) examines how WHD plans its FLSA enforcement and compliance assistance efforts. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed federal district court data from fiscal years 1991 to 2012 and reviewed selected documents from a representative sample of lawsuits filed in federal district court in fiscal year 2012. GAO also reviewed DOL’s planning and performance documents and interviewed DOL officials, as well as stakeholders, including federal judges, plaintiff and defense attorneys who specialize in FLSA cases, officials from organizations representing workers and employers, and academics about FLSA litigation trends and WHD\u27s enforcement and compliance assistance efforts