The critical and interpretative accounting studies on accountability constitute the basis for the development of the three papers of this Ph.D. thesis. Connected from a thematic and a methodological perspective, these three archival based researches explore different aspects of accountability. The attention moves progressively from exploring a retrospective storytelling as an informal media of accountability; to comparing this informal narrative with those contained in the formal media; to finally study different forms through which accountability can be practiced. While the first and the second papers focuses on the role played by stories and narratives in the provision of accountability, the third paper enlarges the focus to explore the relation between narratives and accounting in the provision of accountability. In this thesis accounting is conceived as a discourse where specific rules are applied, a social practice and a technique, that may be used in the accountability discourse
