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financial information
to shareholders on an 
annual basis
and hold 
annual 
general meetings
. However, particularly because of the corporate governance scandals of the last 30 
years, investors have demanded greater assurance that directors are acting in their interests. This has 
led to the development of corporate governance codes.
Making the accountability work is the responsibility of 
both
parties. Directors, as we have seen, do so 
through the quality of information that they provide, whereas shareholders do so through their 
willingness to 
exercise their responsibility as owners
, which means using the available mechanisms to 
query and assess the actions of the board.
The accountability relationship will be different for bodies owned or run by national or central 
government. The nature of the relationship may be clear – that government determines objectives. How 
accountability is demonstrated and enforced may depend though on how coherent the objectives are. 
The main problem will often be where the body's main objectives are non-economic, but the government 
also wishes to limit the amount it spends on the body. 
As with responsibility, one of the biggest debates in corporate governance is the extent of management's 
accountability 
towards 
other stakeholders
, such as the community within which the organisation operates. 
This has led on to a debate about the contents of accounts themselves. 
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PART F: PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ACCOUNTING AND BUSINESS 
 
480
 
In the context of public service, 
holders of public office
are deemed 
accountable
for their decisions and 
actions to 
the public
, and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate for their office. 
1.4.6 Reputation 
Risks to an organisation's reputation depend on how likely other risks are to crystallise. In the same way, 
directors' concern for an organisation's reputation will be demonstrated by the extent to which they fulfil 
the other principles of corporate governance. There are