Dr. Engr. Md. Sakawat Ali

E-mail: sakawat_ali@yahoo.com

Transparency and accountability need each other and can be mutually reinforcing. Together they enable citizens to have a say about issues that matter to them and a chance to influence decision-making and hold those making decisions to account.

What is transparency?

Transparency refers to conducting activities or performing actions in an open and clear manner. Organizations are transparent when they enable others to see and understand how they operate in an honest way. To achieve transparency, an organization must provide information about its activities and governance to stakeholders that is accurate, complete and made available in a timely way. Transparency enables accountability. This does not mean all information should be made publicly available. There are certain types of information that may not be provided publicly such as private information (such as client records) and ‘commercial in confidence’ material (such as tender submissions).

What is accountability?

Accountability can be defined as being responsible for one's actions and having the ability to provide sound reasoning for actions. Accountability exists in a relationship between two parties where one has expectations of the other, and the other is obliged to provide information about how they have met these expectations or face the consequences of failing to do so.

There are two components of accountability:

Answerability – which means providing information and justification for how one’s actions align with expectations; and

Enforcement – which means being subject to, and accepting the consequences of, failing to meet these expectations. Because accountability in an organization will involve multiple parties, it is important there is clarity about who is accountable to whom and how. The way this accountability is achieved will generally be set out in an organization’s governing documents, such as its constitution, and any laws that apply to it. For example, an NFP may be required to provide an annual financial report to its regulator and the penalty for failing to do this may be a fine.

 

It is important that the documents and policies that enable accountability are made available to relevant stakeholders. Subject to necessary confidentiality, usually this is done by providing such information on the organization’s website, but it should be available on request at a minimum.

For accountability to be achieved, there must be transparency.

Difference between Transparency and Accountability:

Transparency	Accountability
Definition: Transparency refers to conducting activities or performing actions in an open and clear manner.	Definition: Accountability refers to being responsible for one’s actions and having the ability to provide sound reasoning for actions.
Focus: Transparency focuses on openness and clarity.	Focus:  Accountability focuses on acknowledgement and being responsible for one’s actions.
Nature: It is an open and clear manner	Nature : It cannot be delegated
Importance: Necessary conditions for good management	Importance: Necessary conditions for good management

Connection between Transparency and Accountability:

Usually, transparency is considered as a pre-requisite of accountability as well. This is because for an action to be evaluated properly there should be access to all necessary information. If the access is denied, then accountability cannot be proven. Both transparency and accountability are viewed as necessary conditions for good management. This applies in a large variety of settings starting from the individual to organizations.

 

Key Words: Transparency and Accountability