Catherine Mangan, Robin Miller and Jeremy Cooper
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between general practitioners (GPs) and social care professionals by reflecting on a project (the Home Truths project…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between general practitioners (GPs) and social care professionals by reflecting on a project (the Home Truths project) which sought to improve joint working between general practice and social care though an action-research process.
Design/methodology/approach
iMPOWER's Home Truths project involved gathering local data regarding joint working in local areas and using this data as a catalyst for change. The Institute of Local Government Studies and the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham were asked to act as a critical friend to the project. This involved supporting the design of the data collection, offering advice on the process and to carrying out a short evaluation of the impact of the first wave. The paper reflects on the collected data from the sites and information from the impact evaluation.
Findings
The paper highlights the poor quality of the relationship between GPs and social workers. Findings that illustrate this include GPs’ poor knowledge of social care services; a perception that social care services were of poor quality and rating the quality of their relationships with social workers as poor. However GPs felt that knowing more about social care could help prevent their patients going into residential care earlier than necessary and wanted to work more closely with social care to exploit the benefits and opportunities. The interventions that have been put in place to try and improve relationships focus on the day-to-day working lives of the professionals rather than attempting to introduce new initiatives.
Research limitations/implications
The response rate from GPs in the areas was low (average response rate was 10 per cent in each area) and it may be that only those GPs who are interested in working with social care responded. The initiatives that have been developed appear to be reasonable responses to the issues identified. However, a lack of discrete outcomes through which to measure improvement will make it difficult to demonstrate the impact of the interventions.
Originality/value
This paper underlines that despite many years of policy makers promoting better integration, the relationship between the key gate-keepers within the health and social care systems is still poor. The findings from the Home Truths surveys and action plans has gone some way to address the gap identified in the evidence base about the relationships between GPs and social workers.
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H. Gin Chong and Gerald Vinten
Materiality is an ill‐defined yet important concept in auditing. However, lack of an auditing guideline exposes auditors to possible litigations due to failure to detect material…
Abstract
Materiality is an ill‐defined yet important concept in auditing. However, lack of an auditing guideline exposes auditors to possible litigations due to failure to detect material misstatement in the financial statements. This paper assesses decisions by UK courts on materiality thresholds. The results from 28 selected cases failed to reveal any consistency in the adoption of materiality thresholds. A guideline is urgently needed by the Auditing Practices Board to increase consistency in decisions on material transactions/events.
Daniel Murphy and Dianne McGrath
The purpose of this paper is to expand our understanding of the motivations for corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand our understanding of the motivations for corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a conceptual exploration of the motivation for corporations to provide ESG reports and proposes deterrence theory and avoidance as a complementary explanatory motivation for such reports.
Findings
Within this paper it is argued that part of the motivation for some corporations to increase ESG disclosures is to avoid, or mitigate, the risk of class actions and the associated financial penalties. This paper proposes that in Australia the deterrence impact, and ancillary avoidance behaviour, of civil litigation class action provides a further motivation for improving both corporate ESG disclosure and sustainability performance.
Originality/value
This paper extends the social and environmental accounting (SEA) reporting literature by proposing deterrence theory and avoidance as a corporate motivation for environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting. Deterrence is proposed as a different, yet complementary, motivation to the oft‐cited variations of stakeholder and legitimacy theory which are dominant in the SEA reporting motivation literature.
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The chapter aims to clarify the relationship between corporate governance structure and corporate subscription to Global Compact standards. Part one of the chapter looks at the…
Abstract
Purpose
The chapter aims to clarify the relationship between corporate governance structure and corporate subscription to Global Compact standards. Part one of the chapter looks at the relationship between different models of board governance and active Global Compact participation by publicly listed companies. Part two of the chapter examines a number of external mechanisms aimed at bringing corporate behavior in line with Global Compact principles, and argues that there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between internal governance structures and external provisions aimed at influencing corporate behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Part one of the chapter uses an independent T-test to compare the average (mean) proportion of publicly listed companies from unitary board countries with an active Global Compact Communication on Progress status with the average proportion of publicly listed companies from two-tier/hybrid corporate governance systems listed as active Global Compact participants. Part two of the chapter uses primary and secondary sources to examine external mechanisms operating across national borders aimed at influencing corporate behavior.
Findings
The chapter finds that a higher proportion of public companies from countries with two-tier/hybrid corporate governance structures have become active Global Compact participants compared to public companies from legal systems with unitary board corporate governance structures. Part two of the chapter examines the potentially mutually reinforcing relationship between internal governance structures and external mechanisms for modifying corporate behavior.
Research limitations/implications
While external codes and standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises appear to be influencing corporate behavior worldwide, quantitative data confirming and recording the extent and nature of this influence (if any) remains limited.
Practical implications
The chapter provides useful insights for policy makers and corporate leaders into the relationship between internal corporate governance structures and external codes, standards and guidelines aimed at influencing corporate behavior.
Originality/value of the chapter
This chapter provides original insights into whether and how internal governance structures can complement and reinforce social standards regarding global corporate citizenship, and the legal guidelines reflecting those standards.
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David F. Cheshire, Sue Lacey Bryant, Sarah Cowell, Tony Joseph, Allan Bunch and Edwin Fleming
History teaching in a multi‐cultural society was one of the most frequently discussed topics in educational circles in 1990. Anybody who learned history in the pre‐1960 period…
Abstract
History teaching in a multi‐cultural society was one of the most frequently discussed topics in educational circles in 1990. Anybody who learned history in the pre‐1960 period would, however, have been surprised to learn that it was thought that “multi‐cultural society” was a new‐thing in the UK. To them the history of these islands seemed to be one wave of invaders after another with a sort of English only established as a universal language some 400 years ago. This strand in our history was matched by another in which brave Britons went off in search of fame and fortune, or to head off a foreign threat, overseas.
The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and…
Abstract
The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.
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Bruno Cazenave and Jeremy Morales
Literature has widely studied the financial accountability pressures on NGOs but rarely analysed how NGOs respond to them. This paper studies one large humanitarian NGO to address…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature has widely studied the financial accountability pressures on NGOs but rarely analysed how NGOs respond to them. This paper studies one large humanitarian NGO to address this question. It investigates the NGO's responses to understand the extent to which NGOs are able to regain control over their own work and turn the frames of evaluation and accountability to their own advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
This article draws on a case study of one of the largest French humanitarian NGOs. Interviews and observation (both participant and non-participant) were conducted in the financial department of the NGO. These data are supplemented with field-level contextual interviews.
Findings
In the NGO studied, institutional pressure is largely mediated by compliance audits. The paper thus traces the consequences of compliance audits for the NGO's central finance teams and describes how they respond. The findings detail three responses to evaluation. First, to respond to the burden of evaluation, the organisation makes itself auditable and develops preparedness. Second, to respond to the anxiety of evaluation, the organisation engages in a process of purification and succumbs to the allure of the single figure. Third, building on its newly acquired auditability and purity, the organisation performs itself as a “corporatised NGO”. Together, these three responses constitute the NGO as an “entrepreneur” competing for eligibility, and financial literacy and managerialism become crucial to respond to pressure from institutional funders.
Originality/value
This paper extends the understanding of organisational responses to evaluation. The authors show the influence of evaluation systems on NGOs, but also how NGOs can react to regain control over their work and turn the frames of evaluation and accountability to their own advantage. However, despite several decades of calls for broader conceptions of NGO accountability, the case NGO prefers to promote a very narrow view of its performance, based solely on accounting compliance. It takes some pride in its ability to comply with funders' and auditors' demands. Turning a simple matter of compliance into a display of good performance, it builds a strategy and competitive advantage on its ability to respond competently to evaluation.
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Jeremy D. Meuser, Helena D. Cooper–Thomas and Amanuel G. Tekleab