What is the difference between integrity and accountability in ethical practice?

• A. Integrity is about legality and compliance with rules.
• B. Accountability is about personal honesty and virtue.
• C. Integrity refers to adherence to moral principles and honesty.
• D. Integrity refers to adherence to moral principles and honesty; accountability means being answerable for actions and facing consequences.

Answer: (D)

In ethical practice, integrity means staying true to your moral principles and being honest, even when it’s inconvenient or when no one is watching. It’s about consistency between what you believe and what you do. Accountability is about being answerable for your actions and facing the consequences—being transparent with others, reporting what happened, and accepting responsibility, whether that means correcting a mistake or explaining your actions to those affected.

The strongest way to capture the difference is that integrity describes your internal alignment with ethics and truthfulness, while accountability describes your external responsibility and the obligation to own outcomes and endure any consequences. The other ideas mix in parts that belong to the other concept or confuse the role of external oversight with personal virtue, which doesn’t fully distinguish the two.