ABSTRACT
External demands for accountability are reflected in the increasing parliamentary debate about education. If an audited statement were to hint at some need for institutional change in finance approval procedures, the internal accountability structure in the institution would change in response immediately. An institution's responsibility to account for its courses may be explored in terms of academic "quality control". Institutions also acknowledge their responsibility to students in the provision of careers advisory, counseling and employment services. At the institutional level financial accountability focuses on the requirement to achieve a successful audit. The bureaucracies found in educational institutions are not static; they do not exhibit the characteristics of Weber's ideal bureaucracy with its assumptions of goal definition, ordered hierarchies, rules and clear functional responsibility. In an academic institution there is a natural dynamic tension between collegiate and bureaucratic processes with the political forces providing the context within which each may operate.
