Accountability and "values": theory and practice

This work analyses certain recent elements, which, as far as we can see, influence the process of accountability , and is founded on the presupposition that accounting and communication of results have a considerable relational impact both within and external to the company, in the short- and long-term (Gray, Owen, Adams, 2000). It is for this reason that we have to pause on certain thoughts which regard a recent stream of business theory, and which place the accent on particular aspects, of which the first focuses on the significance of the relationship between business and stakeholders, the second aspect regards the development of the business and the third considers the meaning of the business information system as a whole set of tools, procedures and outcomes (Marchi, 1993). The information system becomes a qualitative-quantitative convertor of business and anthropological values on which the basic strategic orientation of the same is founded (Coda, 1988).