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The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss both the early implementation of a US mental health intervention for young children in the context of its introduction to a pilot site in a London borough and the progress made in establishing a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

This paper describes an evaluation of a new intervention and the learning that followed in terms of its implementation and future evaluation. Qualitative data were collected from a range of stakeholders and practitioners through interviews and small group discussions. These interviews focussed on both of these issues, with particular reference to the proposal to conduct an RCT.

The findings of this evaluation add to the evidence on how best to support new initiatives that have been introduced from other settings and countries to embed in a receiving site and the optimal timing and feasibility of conducting an RCT. At the end of the feasibility study, which took place within the year of the service being introduced and which was only open to clients for six months of this year the conclusion was that an RCT at that point was neither possible nor desirable. Over the following years, the commitment of the judiciary to examine if there was a way to make an RCT study in respect of this intervention meant that a template was established that may well have broader application.

At a time when there is an increasing demand for evidence on effective interventions this paper makes a valuable contribution to the development of RCTs in general and specifically in the family court arena. It also recommends that attention must also be paid to the time, which is needed to implement and establish interventions and then to test them.

This paper highlights the need to establish realistic timescales not only around the implementation of initiatives but also for their evaluation.

This study breaks new ground in considering implementation challenges in the court and children’s services’ context. It brings to the fore the important role of the judiciary in approving new processes.

Signs of Safety (SoS) is a strengths-based approach to child protection casework that has been widely adopted in countries across the world. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that aimed to synthesise the many evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to assess their strengths and limitations. The intention is to identify the aspects which should be explored further and those that remain unexamined to inform future evaluations.

The study collated and then examined many of the evaluations that are in the public domain as well as some of those that were conducted within agencies and have not been made publicly available.

At the present time (early 2019), the evidence base for SoS is limited. Independent, robust research needs to be undertaken over time to build on the studies that have been conducted. New research must be designed to fill gaps and be capable of producing the evidence required and it must address its own limitations.

This study is the most comprehensive contemporary review of the evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

A multiagency approach to supporting and enhancing child welfare lies at the heart of policies and practice in England and many other countries. The assumption is that if professionals together from different disciplines share their knowledge and skills this will lead to better outcomes for children and their families. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the “normal practice” of such arrangements. This research explored how the pandemic's disruption led to new ways of communicating and professional behaviour, while exploring the potential for longer-term impact in England and other jurisdictions.

Case studies were conducted in 2020 in five English local authorities to explore how schools worked with Children's Social Care and other professionals during the COVID-19 period. It was supplemented by a survey of schools and discussions with and reflections from those with relevant experience in five other countries.

Many schools played an extended role in supporting vulnerable and “in need” families during this period. Children's Social Care recognised their contributions and the improved communication achieved, although schools were divided over whether relationships had improved. Most communication and meetings were online; while benefits were noted there were concerns for families who were digitally disadvantaged.

The work provides a contemporary picture of multiagency work during the 2020 pandemic and identifies factors which may shape this work in the future in England and internationally.

The purpose of this paper is to consider possible implications of recent policy initiatives in schools and local government for child safeguarding practice in education settings in the state sector in England.

Recent policy changes to promote devolution of decision-making to school and local government level are analysed in the light of the literature on multi-agency working for the protection of children.

The paper highlights the complexity of the current context in which local arrangements for the safeguarding of children are operating. This includes efforts at integration of funding and structures, coupled with rapid changes in policy in both education and children’s social care and greater decision-making powers at local level. Together this makes it difficult to evaluate the current strengths of safeguarding arrangements between schools and other local agencies to help ensure that arrangements for the safeguarding of children in “independent” state schools are robust and effective.

Researchers and policy-makers need to consider the efficacy of safeguarding arrangements under new local government and integrated structures in England.

There is relatively little research addressing inter-organisational information exchange in relation to education professionals involved in safeguarding. This paper sets out some directions for inquiry, including specific priorities that may be useful to the research and practice communities in the context of integration.

The paper provides a summary of key policies and strategies that inform child protection in state school settings in England.

Integrated reporting (IR) promotes the disclosure of future-oriented information to enable financial stakeholders to make better-informed decisions. However, the downside to this type of disclosure is the risk to management of disclosing such future-oriented information. This paper aims to explore how IR preparers manage the risk of disclosing future-oriented information in companies’ integrated reports.

This study represents an exploratory interpretative thematic analysis of 33 semi-structured interviews with managers involved in IR in eight Sri Lankan companies representing various industries. The thematic analysis is informed by the research literature and prior studies on IR.

This paper provides evidence of various strategies to manage the risk associated with the disclosure of future-oriented information in integrated reports. These strategies include making non-specific predictions; increasing the accuracy of the predictions; linking performance management to disclosed targets, thus ensuring individual responsibility for target achievement; disclosing ex post explanations for not achieving previously disclosed targets; and linking disclosed targets to the company’s risk management procedures. However, these strategies can cause managers to provide conservative future-oriented information, rather than “best estimate” future-oriented information.

The study describes the strategies that managers use to mitigate the risks involved in disclosing future-oriented information. These strategies can provide support or raise concerns, for managers in deciding how to deal with such risks. Regulators tasked with investor protection, as well as stock exchanges interested in the transparency and accountability of listed companies’ activities should be aware of these strategies. Furthermore, the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) should be interested in the implications of this study because some of the identified strategies could undermine the usefulness of integrated reports to stakeholders. This is a significant concern given that the IIRC envisages integrated reporting and thinking as vehicles that could align capital allocation and corporate behaviour with wider sustainable development goals.

The trend of future-oriented information moving from being used only in organisations’ internal management systems to being externally reported in integrated reports has implications for stakeholder groups interested in the reported targets. This study reveals management strategies that could affect future-oriented information reliability and reduce their usefulness for users of integrated reports.

This study provides unique insights into the emerging area of how managers deal with the risks involved in disclosing future-oriented IR information.

This research employs a behavioural approach to investigate the determinants of CEO disclosure tone inconsistency. By examining CEO characteristics and psychological attributes, the study aims to unravel the complexities underlying tone variations in Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) reports. Through this exploration, the research seeks to contribute to understanding ethical considerations in corporate communications and provide insights into the nuanced interplay between personal, job-related and psychological factors influencing CEO disclosure tone.

The study utilises a dataset comprising 1,411 MD&A reports from 143 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2021. Multiple regression analyses with year- and industry-fixed effects are employed to examine the relationships between CEO gender, tenure, duality, ability and psychological attributes such as narcissism, myopia, overconfidence and tone inconsistency. Data analysis involves MAXQDA software for analysing MD&A reports and Rahavard Novin software for document analysis, supplemented by audited financial statements.

The findings reveal significant relationships between CEO characteristics, psychological attributes and tone inconsistency. Female CEOs exhibit reduced tone inconsistency, contrasting with previous research trends. CEO tenure correlates negatively with tone inconsistency, whereas CEO ability shows a positive correlation, indicating a nuanced relationship with performance. However, CEO duality does not exhibit a significant association. Psychological attributes such as narcissism and myopia are positively associated with tone inconsistency, while no substantial connection is found with managerial overconfidence.

This research contributes to the inaugural exploration of CEO disclosure tone inconsistency through a behavioural lens, advancing measurement precision in the field. By delving into CEO characteristics and psychological attributes, the study offers unique insights into the roots of tone inconsistency. Applying comprehensive lexicon and phraseology enriches the methodological approach, fostering dialogue among diverse stakeholders and adding distinct perspectives to the discourse on ethical issues in business. Through its meticulous examination of behavioural underpinnings, this study becomes a catalyst for reflection, dialogue and progress in corporate communications and ethical considerations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of audit quality and ownership structure on the degrees of accuracy and bias in earnings forecasts issued in initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses in a frontier market, Bangladesh.

The paper uses both univariate and multivariate tests on the sample of 75 IPOs. The paper employs the tests to see the association between the degree of forecast bias and three corporate governance variables.

The results reveal that the magnitude of earnings forecast bias is significantly explained by issuer, auditor reputation, proportions of capital raised from domestic as well as foreign investors, and whether the IPO firm is a start-up venture. Underwriter prestige, length of the issuing firms' operating history, leverage, whether the firm went public during a stock market boom, and forecast horizon do not appear to be statistically significant in explaining the degree of forecast bias.

Although auditor reputation and the proportion of equity retained by pre-IPO owners have been investigated in several studies on IPO forecast accuracy and/or bias, no study has attributed them to corporate governance as a whole by combining auditor reputation, and ownership categories held by small private investors and foreign portfolio investors.

This paper proposes a revised analytical model for accounting professionals that can be used to evaluate the financial well being of innovative companies that rely on earnings management practices (EM) for their growth. Through an analysis of corporate governance, financial reporting standards, and ratio analysis this paper reaches the conclusion that Enron extended previously researched earnings management practices that could have been detected in early 2000. Results of the analysis indicate that by using price book, price earnings multiple, net margin percentage, and return on assets, and taking into consideration the so‐called risk management activities which seemed to disguise highly volatile speculative derivative‐based activities, Enron was headed for implosion at least one year before its collapse.

English social work policies and regulatory bodies propel critical reflection as a professional requirement and a worthwhile activity. The purpose of this paper is to report on the current international and UK evidence that informs the understanding and use of critical reflection and associated terms – reflection, reflective practice and reflective supervision – in one-to-one practitioner supervision in local authority children and families social work in England.

A review of the evidence was undertaken using documentary policy analysis and a scholastic literature review to examine the history and current knowledge available as of December 2022.

The historical policy and professional context of critical reflection in one-to-one supervision in England is discussed. The current evidence review identified three themes – the role of critical reflection in models of supervision, the influences of national, organisational and professional cultures and the supervisor practitioner relationship. The nuanced nature of the presence of critical reflection in supervision and a lack of clarity when theorising and describing critical reflection has implications for policy, supervisory practice and research design.

Critical reflection in one-to-one social work supervision is under researched. This review draws on the evidence from international research and local policy to offer an understanding of the complexity of theorising, practicing and researching critical reflection in one-to-one supervision in local authority children and families social work in England.