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n this manner, much of current practice would appear to be inconsistent and irrational. The need for consistency in accounting is emphasised because an alteration or change in the accounting information can be catastrophic.

Accountability is limited by the opaque nature of a person's experiences and practical engagements, this experience and engagements must definitely be accounted for, so future events can rely on them for guidance and reference. Several authors have suggested that accountability may be achieved through social and environmental reporting practices (e.g. Gray, 2002; Shearer, 2002; Unerman & Bennett, 2004). But other writers are of the view that it ''needs to get beyond the constraints' (McKernan & MacLullich, 2004, p. 345). Accountability should not just be a process of checking credit and debit in a transaction, but it should be able to offer advice and direction. Butler (2001, 2004, 2005) argues that the accountable self is vulnerable to accountability insofar as it is an opaque self that cannot account for everything it has lived through; an exposed self that experiences accountability as an intrusion into its own practice; and a mediated self whose accounts have to rely on a medium that is not of its own making. The vulnerability of the accountable self implies that there are limits to accountability as an ethical practice (Sinclair 1995, p. 221).

Accounting should move from the conventional view of accounting for-the-self to an accounting for-the other. As a consequence, any conception of accountability needs to acknowledge this priority of the other, because the ''motive for being accountable is never simple' (Schweiker 1993 p. 245). To be accountable means to be accountable to someone else, and to reduce the notion of accountability to the justification of one's own actions for one's own sake is to misconstrue accountability as this makes the individual feel purely guided by their self-interests and unaccountable to just a comprehensive social good.

Accountability can further be broken down into two ideal forms; hierarchical and socializing forms of accountability; hierarchical form of accountability, in which individuals take for granted that their value and worth depends upon their position within the organizational hierarchy. In striving for acceptance and recognition, individuals are forced into conformity with the standards of utility upon which 'success' depends, while the socialising form of accountability means relation to others is characterized by a quest for mutual understanding which goes beyond giving and demanding of accounts through formal categories, as provided by accounting. Socializing forms of accountability thus foster a recognition of the self and of others that is free from distortion by any imposed formal definitions of the situation. 'By seeking accountability we recognize the obligation to the others' (Shearer, 2002 p 570).

The impact of lack of accountability is severe, as this creates room for corruption and lack of economic development, For example the current global financial crisis due to lack of accountability has cost, 'the US government nearly $8.5 trillion, around 60% of its gross domestic product, to arrest the collapse of its financial system' (San Francisco Chronicle, 26 November, 2008). The European Central Bank has 'provided around