"Accountability," however, means corporations must adhere to regulatory or legal requirements or otherwise be held liable or face sanctions.

The fundamental difference between the two concepts is corporate "accountability" requires independent oversight and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance, whereas corporate "responsibility" relies on voluntary self-regulation.

In response to increasing public demand for corporate accountability, business has championed a plethora of voluntary "corporate responsibility" initiatives. Yet the dozens of regional, national and industry-sponsored voluntary initiatives have failed to deliver responsible corporate behavior for several reasons:

1. They are very often phrased in general, aspirational terms and therefore lack specific requirements or responsibilities;

2. They do not require public disclosure of social and environmental impacts;

3. They rely on self-regulation, meaning there is no enforcement or independent verification to ensure the company is adhering to its code of conduct;

4. They fail to empower citizens and stakeholders. Companies cannot be held liable if they fail to conduct their activities in accordance to their codes of conduct; and

5. They simply do not provide strong enough incentives for compliance to counterbalance the financial incentives for non-compliance.

A corporate accountability framework would establish disclosure requirements on social and environmental impacts, so governments and the public can actually know whether corporations are conducting their activities in a responsible manner - something that voluntary initiatives fail to deliver.

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