A formal notice issued by the Ferengi Commerce Authority charging a Ferengi with a breach of law, served on Quark by Liquidator Brunt because his mother has been earning profit.
A Writ of Accountability is the document with which the Ferengi Commerce Authority opens proceedings against a Ferengi accused of breaking commercial or social law. The person named is held answerable until the matter is settled, and his business can be shut in the meantime.
It appears in the Deep Space Nine episode Family Business. Liquidator Brunt arrives on the station, closes Quark's bar and serves him with a writ. The charge is that his mother Ishka has been making profit, which Ferengi law forbids to females, and as eldest male of the family Quark is responsible for her conduct.
Quark and Rom go home to Ferenginar to make her confess. Quark is appalled to find that Ishka's secret investments are worth far more than his own fortune, and Rom arranges a settlement in which she gives up only a small part of them.