Accountable means having to answer for what you do. Held accountable, accountable to Parliament, hold them accountable.
It names an obligation to explain and to face consequences, and it is the central idea in public administration: who answers to whom. Accountable to somebody, accountable for something. Note the distinction from responsible, which is about the duty itself: you can be responsible for a task without being accountable to anyone for it. Note also accountability, which is the noun and is heavily used in policy.
1adjectiveaccountableHaving to answer for what you do.
“Politicians must be held accountable for the promises they make.”
accountable is a quality of answerability.
Account plus -able, first attested about 1400. Account comes from Old French aconter, to reckon, from Latin computare, so being accountable is being able to be reckoned with.
Proto-Indo-European
*pewH-
Middle English
acounte
English
account
English, today
accountable
Built from
From account + able. First attested around 1400. account comes from Middle English acounte. From Middle English acounte, from Anglo-Norman acunte (“account”), from Old French aconte, from aconter (“to reckon”), from Latin computō (“to sum up”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA