> A more literal interpretation of accountability would mean that they can tell the story, the accounting, of how things happened. That's not a common interpr

> A more literal interpretation of accountability would mean that they can tell the story, the accounting, of how things happened. That's not a common interpretation in this context, especially the part about responsibility v. accountability. If it helps to understand it in a business process context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matr... Often, the entity accountable for an outcome owns the consequences regardless of who's responsible for implementing it. It doesn't help that accountability and responsibility are often synonyms in all other contexts. It's why the department executive gets fired if 30 million dollars was spent and the program doesn't get the job done, at least if they manage not to skirt accountability for it.