Certain government agencies are requiring more and more evidence from colleges and universities that they are efficient, effective, and relevant by calling for numbers, key performance indicators, benchmarks, and quality assurance protocols--that is, evidence based on productivity, 'economic efficiency', and 'value for money' (Power, 1994; Shore, 2008; Shore & Wright, 2004, 2015). In this context, quality is determined by what is most visible to external scrutiny, and accountability has become conflated with accountancy, giving rise to what researchers have called "audit culture" (Power, 1994; Shore & Wright, 2004). This article explores how audit culture has emerged in higher education by critiquing the many ways in which it directs energy towards processes of compliance and by discussing how accountability might be reported without sacrificing quality. In the end, the authors propose strategies for navigating audit and accountability culture while meeting external requirements and maintaining the values and principles of higher education.