What occurs when the OWD for the Account object is set to Private?

When the Organization-Wide Default (OWD) for the Account object is set to Private, it establishes a baseline level of access to the account records within Salesforce. This means that only the individual users who own an account record have access to view their specific records. Other users within the organization will not be able to see those account records unless sharing rules, manual sharing, or other access methods (like roles or permission sets) are applied to grant additional visibility.

This setting enhances data privacy and security, ensuring that sensitive information is only visible to the user who is responsible for that record. Therefore, the correct understanding of Private OWD is that only the record owners are able to view their account records, aligning with the provided answer.