Reporting Does Not Equal Accountability! The Importance of Funding Characteristics and Process on Accountability

This article examines how funding arrangements affect the viability and efficiency of mechanisms for public accountability. It argues that accountability begins at the funding program planning stage. The characteristics of funding can either make reporting onerous and meaningless or can achieve accountability organically through the development of a setting in which governments and organizations alike internalize accountability as a common objective. The position presented here is that excessive emphasis on reporting is misguided because, unless reporting is both relevant and integral to the process of designing and implementing programs and services, it wastes organizational and government resources.