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The UK SME sector has been identified as a potentially attractive segment for non‐domestic European banks wishing to establish a base in the UK market. A survey by interview of 30 from a sampling frame of 354 medium‐sized enterprises in the UK suggests that foreign penetration of this market is unlikely in the short term. At present, medium‐sized enterprises attach considerable importance to factors such as trust and confidence in their banking relationship. For foreign banks to penetrate this market it would be necessary to overcome existing conservative approaches to banking relationships and particularly concerns over support to distressed businesses.

This paper examines the impact on the accounting profession of those aspects of new types of non‐traditional reporting which are actually used in practice. Empirical evidence about data collection and reporting in some organisations shows that the current scope of mainstream accounting may be too narrow. Drawing especially on environmental accounting initiatives, the paper discusses where the boundaries of accounting and annual reporting are currently set, and whether the accounting profession can respond proactively to push the boundaries of corporate reporting to reflect performance in more all‐embracing ways.

Seeks to explain the survival of the Local Education Authority (LEA) as an organizational form despite the significant reform of UK education that created a hostile environment for them.

Adopting a historical perspective and drawing on neo‐institutional sociology, analyses the structuration of the educational field and the survival strategies of three LEAs, from 1988 to the mid‐1990s. The evidence base is some 100 semi‐structured interviews conducted between 1993 and 1997 with local education officers, head teachers and members of Boards of Governors.

The paper shows that LEAs have been able to continually transmute structures and reproduce social systems that secured their continued and major involvement in education. Coping strategies were designed that reduced their own bureaucracy, built partnerships and new patterns of coalitions with schools, and discouraged a broadening of the organizational field.

Although the evidence comes from just three LEAs, survival strategies appear to have been adopted across the country, but there may be regional variations that could be further explored. In addition, parents were not interviewed, and issues of parent power and the nature of relationships between parents and other participants in the organizational field would be fruitful areas for future research.

In practice the system of education remains dominated by the producers of education, although the head teacher has more and the LEA less power than previously.

The historical perspective offers an understanding of institutional context by focusing on changes over time and generates insights on how organizations behave and develop.

Finance for longer‐term investment continues to be identified as a problem in the small and medium‐sized enterprise market. Recently the finance gap has been attributed to the use of capital gearing as a lending assessment technique. Income gearing, which would take account of the borrower′s expected future income flows may help to close the finance gap. Using a postal questionnaire and in‐depth interviews, information was gathered from companies about their forecasting procedures. The findings show that many companies have the necessary infrastructure to forecast income flows. However practice and culture need to change if lending based on income gearing is to become a reality. Company forecasts lack depth, and the time horizon chosen is too short especially in relation to capital expenditure budgets. In the small and medium sector the relationship between budgets and strategic planning is not yet understood.

Partnerships are the British government’s preferred method of procuring public sector services, and the policy is usually justified in terms of delivering value for money. Ex ante financial methodologies are prescribed to ensure that decision making is based on a sound appraisal of alternatives and the government has called for an evaluation of implemented projects. This paper seeks to contribute to that evaluative process by exploring ex post facto some of the issues and problems that arose in practice. Using a case study approach, the paper considers two failures of information technology partnerships to examine how risk transfer, which is at the heart of the partnership policy, works in practice. The cases show that the contracts failed to transfer risk in the way that had been expected. The public agencies, not the commercial partner, bore the management risk and costs fell on the public at large and/or other public agencies.

This study provides a gender analysis of National Council for the Social Studies Notable Trade picture book selections suitable for the primary grades from the years 2006-2008. The study examines the number of male and female characters and the presence, or absence of, gender stereotypes relative to characters’ personali-ties, occupations, and behaviors. Results indicate a significant difference in the number of male and female characters, with many more male characters represented. Both males and females frequently performed stereotypical jobs or roles, with no books depicting males in lower status jobs than females. In books with only female main characters, some women were able to cross traditional gender lines and demonstrate strong personalities. Of the 17 predetermined behaviors in which characters engaged throughout these books, seven of them showed significant differences between males and females. Males were more likely to participate in sports, fight in battles or demonstrate aggressive behaviors, pursue worthy causes such as heroism, use television/computer/radio, and earn a living. Females were more likely to perform domestic chores and demonstrate affection or emotion.

Notable Social Studies Trade Book (NSSTB) lists include books selected annually by the Book Review Committee of the National Council for the Social Studies in conjunction with the Children’s Book Council. These lists are excellent resources for teachers who use children’s literature to support social studies instruction in their classrooms. We report our analysis of award-winning titles for primary grades published from 2001-2011. Biographies and books that address topics about families are featured as a starting place for primary grades teachers to begin incorporating NSSTB into their social studies instruction. We conclude by suggesting ways for primary grade teachers to utilize the book lists each year.

This paper investigates the impact of line of business and geographical segments information disclosure on the firms' perceived risk when either of them is disclosed for the first time without prior segmental information. British data for both treatment and control groups were utilized and a dummy variable technique was employed in the study. The results show that the dummy variables in the treatment groups (line of business and geographical segments) were significant, but insignificant in the control group. The results indicate that the disclosure of line of business and geographical segment information does have an impact on a firm's perceived risk.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation of public sector research in the 1998–2018 period.

The paper uses the extant literature of this era to study the theorisation of, and the findings of, public sector research.

This is a vibrant field of a study in a wide range of study settings and with many interdisciplinary studies. The influence of new public management is pervasive over this period. There are numerous instances of innovations in study settings, in key findings and the approach taken by investigators.

This is not a comprehensive review of all literature in this period.

This study also explored the relevance of academic research of this era to policymaking by governments.

This paper offers a distinctive critique of theorisation of public sector accounting research. It reveals the dominant theoretical reference points in use during this period and observes the increasing tendency for theoretical pluralism to investigate complex study settings.

The paper aims to shed light on how a group of feminist managers/leaders, in education and social studies departments, a notably under-explored and under-theorised group, “do power” in the increasingly corporatized education marketplace.

The research draws on the narratives of a small group of feminist women who hold authority positions at middle or senior levels. It draws on data from ethnographic interviews and participant observation carried out as part of an in-depth narrative inquiry (Andrews et al., 2008), carried out at three higher education institutions in the UK.

From a small sample such as this, any findings are necessarily tentative. Nonetheless, findings suggest that, whilst taking account of individual differences in styles, there has been a shift, over time, in the ways that the management role is approached by some feminist women. Analysis of the data also reveals that gendered expectations remain for those who carry the “feminist” label and asks whether these expectations are realistic.

The sample group is small which raises questions about what can and cannot be claimed. However, along with Maguire (2008), the author’s purpose is not with generalizability but seeks to explore issues and open up further areas of study.

This paper is an original empirical research which explores an under-researched group of women, namely, feminist managers and leaders who operate within the education marketplace. As they negotiate the challenges of working within the neoliberal academy, these women try, to varying degrees, to remain true to their feminist values and beliefs.