The Hidden Power of Accountability

by Bob Hostetler

Houston-based Enron, once the United States' seventh-largest company, filed for bankruptcy protection last December, making it the biggest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its stock, once worth more than eighty dollars a share, is essentially worthless today. The company's collapse burned investors, left thousands of employees without jobs and without their retirement savings, and sucked accounting giant Arthur Andersen into the firestorm.

When priest John Geoghan was sentenced to nine-to-ten years in prison in a high-profile sexual abuse case, the media spotlight rapidly widened beyond Geoghan to engulf the Roman Catholic Church itself. Last week, Pope John Paul II accepted Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland's resignation (submitted routinely on his seventy-fifth birthday), after the archbishop was publicly accused of making an unwanted sexual advance on a man more than twenty years ago. Each week, it seems, brings fresh news of pain and tragedy.

Though steadfastly denying wrongdoing, investment bank Merrill Lynch agreed to pay 100 million dollars to settle a New York attorney general's investigation into allegations its analysts publicly recommended stocks they privately disparaged, in order to retain or gain investment banking business from the companies concerned. The analysts- expected to provide impartial stock advice to clients-were reportedly pressured to recommend companies that were also customers of Merrill Lynch's investment banking services.

What do an energy corporation, the Roman Catholic Church, and an investment bank have in common? A shocking lack of accountability.

Most of us shy from accountability. We don't like giving other people the opportunity-let alone the authority-to check up on us and hold us accountable for our actions. It's only natural, a part of our nature since the days of Adam and Eve, who hid in the garden after eating their first fruit salad. But accountability is a friend, not a foe. If handled properly, it can prevent scandals of the magnitude Enron, Merrill Lynch, and the Roman Catholic Church are dealing with right now.

Think of all the corporations, companies, churches, government agencies, school systems, and individuals who have avoided public scandal and economic ruin because someone-an accountant, a watchdog agency, a partner, a committee, a board-was granted the opportunity, position, and power to say, "do you think that's wise?" or "do you think that's right?" Can you list them? Probably not. Because they haven't been in the news-unlike their counterparts who avoided or skirted accountability. That's the hidden power of accountability: The power to prevent or correct problems long before they become scandals.

There are many kinds of accountability, of course. There's divine accountability; the Bible says that "each of us will have to give a personal account to God" (Romans 14:12, NLT). There is civil accountability; we are all subject to the laws of our nation, state, and community. There is organizational accountability; every employee or student is answerable to a boss or teacher. These are all healthy forms of accountability. But among the most valuable is voluntary accountability.

The company or agency that submits to honest and painstaking audits is employing the hidden power of accountability, as is the executive who invites honest criticism and evaluation from her board or department. Likewise, the church or charity that installs thoughtful checks and balances or the individual who cultivates accountability in his business practices or relationships with others.

Accountability does not happen accidentally, of course. But neither should it be done willy-nilly. It is serious business, because it requires the opening up of the details of your company, organization, or life to a few carefully selected, trustworthy confidants who will speak the truth, and giving those individuals the right to examine, question, appraise, and give counsel. It's best done gradually, but not with someone who will tell you just what you want to hear, or someone who has the same weak areas you do. It's ideal when accountability can be structured so as to be both inhibiting (that is, preventing undesirable patterns or dangers) and encouraging (stimulating desirable results). And it's usually most helpful if it occurs on a regular, recurring basis (but not so regular, of course, that it becomes meaningless).

"He who hates correction," wise King Solomon once said, bluntly, "is stupid" (Proverbs 12:1, NIV). Accountability-in finances, in responsibilities, in relationships-may not make us all as wise as Solomon. But it can often prevent, correct, or constrain our native stupidity-or depravity-long before the rest of the world has to find out. And therein lies its power…and its beauty.

This article appeared in the Hamilton Journal-News on May 31, 2002.

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