Accountable For: Standard Pattern
Accountable For: Standard Pattern records the directly documented Cambridge construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced complement pattern rather than inventing a broader prohibition.
Cambridge documents “accountable for” when naming the action, decision, spending, or outcome for which someone is responsible.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Context | Use | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| name the action, decision, spending, or outcome for which responsibility is assigned | accountable for + noun/-ing | Use “for” before what the responsibility concerns. |
| name the person or authority to whom responsibility is owed | accountable to + person/authority | Use “to” for the separate authority/answerability relationship. |
| both relationships matter | accountable to X for Y | The two complements can express different roles in the same sentence. |
Quick tests
Decision test
Are you naming the action, decision, spending, or outcome that someone is responsible for?
If yes: Use “accountable for.”
If no: If you are naming the person or authority they answer to, use the separately documented “accountable to” pattern.
Caveat: “For” identifies the matter/outcome; “to” identifies the person or authority to whom someone is answerable. They are not interchangeable merely because both can follow “accountable.”
Examples
Managers are accountable for the final decision.
“For” introduces the decision for which responsibility is assigned.
The treasurer is accountable to the board.
“To” introduces the authority to whom the treasurer is answerable.
The team is accountable to the director for its spending.
The two complements express different relationships in one sentence.
Further guidance
Construction
Cambridge documents “accountable for” for responsibility for an action, decision, spending, or outcome.
Style Boundary
“Accountable to” can identify the person or body to whom someone must answer; this page is limited to the for-complement that names the matter of responsibility.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- accountable — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Cambridge dictionary evidence for accountable for something/doing something and its contrast with accountable to a person or authority.