Stakeholder and accountability in different types of organisations

As is often the case in accounting, discussion of stakeholders and accountability tends to focus on the
activities of major commercial organisations, which, as we have pointed out, are visible and powerful
players in societies. This does not mean, as discussed in the previous chapter, that the questions of
accountability and stakeholder relationships do not apply to other types of organisations. When it
comes to other organisational forms, such as public sector organisations or NGOs, stakeholders and
the related accountability relationships are also varied. Think about one typical public sector
organisation, a public university. It is relatively simple to list some key stakeholder groups, such as
employees, students, other universities, the local community, local authorities and the state. There
are also plenty of responsibilities a university can be said to have. However,

when we discuss accountability, the setting can get more complicated. Who is the university
accountable to? Students? Employees? Ministry of Education? Ministry of Commerce? Society more
generally? Moreover, are some of these stakeholders more important in the sense that the university
would have a higher responsibility in respect of its actions towards them? Would this imply that
there would be a stronger accountability demand towards particular groups than towards some
others? Consider Japan, where in 2015 the government ordered national universities to scale back
Their involvement in social sciences and humanities, and to focus in areas which the Government
considered would better serve the society’s needs. Overall, there are Complexities that are inherent
when we begin to explore organisations’ stakeholder Relationships and associated accountabilities.

Similar questions are also present in the third sector. Consider a major NGO such As Amnesty
International. The stakeholder networks are again diverse and context- Specific, and you can find
many of the usual stakeholders to be relevant also in this Setting. Most NGOs, such as Amnesty
International, are generally considered to be Working for the common good. There are however
some specific elements that are Worth considering here. For instance, there is substantial complexity
that arises in Relation to both upward (to funders) and downward (to beneficiaries) accountabilities
These organisations have (see the “Insights from research” below).