The federal government is prohibited by the constitution from intruding into educational matters; state governments also have been reluctant to do so. The government has had to depend on voluntary accrediting organizations as evaluators of educational quality. These organizations assess educational quality and encourage its improvement. Educational auditing and accountability is one approach toward improving accrediting organizations criteria and procedures and their responsiveness to the needs of users of accreditation. The concept is modeled on the auditing system developed by the Securities and Exchange Commission for "accrediting" business. The auditing plan follows the same basic steps as current accrediting procedures with limited expansion of the research staffs of the regional accrediting commissions and the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation. The basic steps in the accrediting process would include (1) the institution carrying on a self-study and preparing two formal reports, including the educational statements of the institution and a report for publication; (2) the regional commission appointing a visiting committee whose members each have specific responsibilities; (3) the team of educational auditors, specialized committee members, and the chairperson conducting an on-site investigation to verify the assertions in the educational and financial statements; (4) a report and evaluation submitted by the committee to the regional commission; (5) recommendations to the institution; and (6) regular annual self-study analysis reported back to the commission. (JMF)