Accountability:concept and features

Accountability is more formal and absolute than responsibility.It is the obligation of a subordinate to respond back to his immediate subordinate about the detail information of the job entrusted to him and that has been completed.One has to report back formally to his superior at the completion of given task or whenever instructed by the superior.
When a superior assigns a certain job to his subordinate and delegates necessary authority to complete the assigned works, it becomes responsibility of the subordinates to complete the job according to the prescribed standard.For the completion of accountability, the fair use of authority and proper discharge of responsibility are necessary.Accountability cannot be delegated to others even to subordinates.It is the obligation of subordinates to complete the work by himself and report back to superior in due time.
"Accountability is the obligation of an individual to report formally to his superior about the work he has done to discharge the responsibility"
-McFarland
Therefore, accountability is the enforcement for the timely official report from the subordinates about the job entrusted to him.However, clear definition of authority and responsibility to the subordinates is necessary to complete accountability.