This paper elaborate on the concepts of ‘accountability’ and professional ‘responsibility’ in relation to each other and provides clarification of the different meanings given professional responsibility. Drawing on classical ideas of professionalism as well as the recent rhetoric and practices of New Public Management, the concept of professional responsibility is deconstructed and discussed in light of the underlying logics produced by the use of the concepts of ‘accountability’ and professional ‘responsibility’. We discuss if and how the ideal of social trustee-professionalism is threatened by more managerial oriented forms of accountability and new demands on the individual professional. The following questions guide our approach: What are the origins and etymological meanings of the concepts of professional responsibility and accountability? How do we understand the use of these concepts in current practices? What is to be learned from making a conceptual distinction between professional ‘responsibility’ and ‘accountability’? The analysis indicates that mechanisms of accountability seemingly “conquer” responsibility in today’s governance systems. Concepts like “evidence-based practices”, “quality assurance” and “data driven decision making” increasingly intrude into the language of professionalism. It is timely, therefore, to discuss critically the normative basis and performances of professional responsibility in professional programmes and work life.