The purpose of the present study is to analyze stakeholder theory and its applicability to community college accountability. Community colleges have been using strategic planning as a management approach that includes the process of strategic action, and many organizations claim that they collaborate with their stakeholders during this process. Poister (2010) asserts that participation in strategic planning is not enough to move a company forward; it must meet the goals that the plan indicates and evidence of movement toward those goals must be communicated through some meaningful accountability system (p. S247). With the increase in concern for accountability in higher education, community colleges are not immune to producing results for their stakeholders. The problem is that although many community colleges participate in strategic planning, these institutions also need an evidence-based accountability system for their stakeholders. An accountability system is a process to produce evidence-based performance indicators on an on-going basis (Poister, 2010, p. S247). They are needed for a number of reasons: the first includes justification for local, state and federal funding; the second is the requirement from accreditation agencies to provide evidence of program and institutional effectiveness that can be linked to student learning; and third is that community college stakeholders are asking for accountability systems that provide evidence of meeting community demands (Harbour, 2003, p. 301). Stakeholder theory is an approach that helps organizations identify legitimate stakeholders and has been used by business leaders to identify strategies that maximize profits and address stakeholder demands (Fassin, 2008, p. 115). This process can be formalized in community colleges to systematically identify their stakeholders. A properly formulated accountability system should take into account the appropriate level of balance between various stakeholders. According to Burke (2005), stakeholder demands must remain within reasonable equilibrium so that the core purpose of the organization is not leaning more towards one stakeholder group over another (p. 296). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]