ABSTRACT
I have suggested that executives of social organizations may be the least autonomous of practitioners in human service organizations. Whatever the organization is accountable for, its executive is answerable for.
The agency is accountable 1) to its members or participants, 2) to its directors or trustees, 3) to the community chest which gives financial aid, and ultimately 4) to the community. The agency must answer not only for its use of funds but also must produce evidence of its usefulness, because the success of a charitable organization is measured not in dollars but in the services rendered the community. Nevertheless, unless financial facts are carefully recorded and interpreted the institution will not survive, because it will not be able to instill confidence in the public mind and sustain good will (Youngwood, 1949, p. 3).
