The Accountability Board
Legal name: The Accountability Board Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 883831974
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Wakefield, MA, USA
- Phone
- 7812460500
- Rating
- 65
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,545,360
- Expenses
- $1,315,063
- Assets
- $15,254,934
- Liabilities
- $23,038
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MATTHEW PRESCOTT (PRESIDENT, TREASURER & SECRETARY)
- JOSHUA BALK (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- MATTHEW PRESCOTT (PRESIDENT, TREASURER & SECRETARY): $313,947 total reported compensation
- JOSHUA BALK (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $241,600 total reported compensation
- MATTHEW PENZER (CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER): $208,493 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Accountability Board works to ensure transparency and policy compliance, improve corporate governance, and strengthen shareholder rights in publicly-traded companies.
What it reported doing in 2024
Engagement with major companies about strengthening their environmental, social, and governance practices.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 63
- Sustainability: 81
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 54.5%; rating input score 54
- Program expense ratio: 65.7%; rating input score 66
- Fundraising efficiency: $70.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 48.3%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.6; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 58.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 75.6% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -29% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 41.7% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 54.5% of revenue deployed · 65.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $864K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $314K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $375K reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.