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To examine the progress local governments in Victoria. Australia have made utilizing the internet to deliver traditional services, and examine models that attempt to define the maturity of local government electronic service delivery.

The research approach comprised two components. The first was to examination and assess local government web sites in Victoria, and the second part involved an in‐depth case study with one local government.

The findings suggest that conventional linear e‐commerce and e‐Government maturity models are not applicable in the case of local government as this level of government traditionally focuses more on active community participation and interaction.

The research examines a wide sample of council web sites but the case study is limited to one council. It suggests that the implementation and uptake of e‐commerce and e‐Government across the local government sector have been mixed and more detailed models of electronic service are needed.

In Australia, there has been significant Federal government emphasis on initiatives to promote internet use for local government service provision, yet the move to electronic service delivery (ESD) in the sector has been varied. For the local government sector, the internet offers significant potential for the delivery of government services and this research identifies some significant issues.

The report on the research outlines the similarities and differences between the various levels of government and suggests that the purpose and needs of ESD are different for municipal councils.

As businesses world‐wide begin to adopt enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in increasing numbers, academics are deciding how to utilise these types of systems in information systems (IS) curricula. Alliances with some of the ERP vendors have enabled some universities to develop innovative courses and subjects. Nevertheless, the limited research in this area has only outlined case studies or examples of ERP use in IS. In this paper we outline how ERP systems can be incorporated into a broad IS curriculum model such as IS’97, thus providing a guide to institutions that may be contemplating the use of ERP in their curriculum.

This paper sets out to evaluate the effect of search method employed (broadly defined here as formal or informal) on the probability that an individual will move out of unemployment into either employment or inactivity. We take advantage of the longitudinal element contained within the Labour Force Survey and link 794 individual records through five quarters. The sample contains all those who are unemployed in Spring 1996 and records their labour market status for the four quarters ending in Spring 1997. Given that this element of the LFS is only just beginning to be used, we attempt to evaluate its usefulness for the estimation of a discrete time‐competing risks model. We do find an effect of search method employed in the final specification and the sign on the coefficient rejects our belief that those using informal search methods may do so in order to signal their higher levels of productivity. Instead we are led to conclude that those using informal search methods may do so because of a lack of skills needed to use more formal channels.

For maintaining the fortitude of both body and mind during war‐time, it is of prime importance that everyone should strive to do all that is possible to provide a sufficient amount of suitable food; for a well‐nourished body withstands infection and the effects of stress and strain just as a well‐built house resists the onslaughts of wind and rain.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce counterfactual analysis and reasoning to the study of accounting history. The counterfactual focus is the institutionalisation of public accountancy in the UK.

The study adopts a counterfactual research design using Ferguson and Bunzl and asks a “what if” question of an event of importance to accounting historians in order to create a plausible counterfactual outcome that is grounded in rationality and causal analysis. The specific counterfactual question relates to the royal charter granted to public accountants practicing in Edinburgh in 1854. The counterfactual outcome is compared to the actual timeline of public accountancy institutionalisation in the UK.

The “alternative” history reveals uncertainties that confronted public accountants in the past and provides a basis for suggesting that the current fractured and inefficient state of institutionalised public accountancy in the UK has its origins at least partially in the 1854 royal charter. It also suggests that attempts to register and unify public accountants in the UK have been hindered by nineteenth century royal charters.

The study argues that counterfactual analysis is a useful historical tool with which to understand the consequences of historical decisions made in the professional project of British public accountancy. In addition, the study reveals the potential for counterfactual analysis to illumine the consequences of decisions in other areas of accounting and auditing history.

This study is the first counterfactual analysis in the accounting history literature and therefore provides a template for further studies and improved research design.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical account of four unsuccessful merger attempts between Australia’s two major professional accounting bodies over a 30-year period (1969 to 1998), each of which ultimately failed. An analysis of the commonalities and differences across the four attempts is provided and social identity theory is used to explain the differences between members level of support for these merger bids.

This study adopts a qualitative approach using a historical research methodology to source surviving business records from public archives and other data gathered from oral history interviews.

The study found that, across all four merger attempts between Australia’s two professional accounting bodies, there was strong support from society members (the perceived lower-status group) and opposition exhibited by institute members (the perceived higher-status group). This study also found that the perceived higher-status organisation always initiated merger discussions, while its members rejected the proposals in the members’ vote.

This paper focusses on the Australian accounting profession, considering a historical account of merger attempts. Further research is required that includes interviews and surveys of those involved in making decisions regarding merger attempts.

This paper is the first to examine in detail these four unsuccessful merger attempts between the largest accounting organisations in Australia.

News has reached us of the death on 19th August of Hans Peter Luhn, President of the American Documentation Institute since October 1963. Born in Barmen, Germany, in 1896, Mr Luhn went to the United States in 1924. He joined IBM in 1941 and worked there until 1961, when he retired and became a consultant to industry. Although Mr Luhn was known by relatively few people in Britain, his contributions in the field of mechanization are widely known. During his time at IBM Mr Luhn was at the source of a steady stream of innovations in the field of information retrieval. Among the projects he initiated, or developed, are: Keyword‐In‐Context Indexes, automatic abstracting, statistical methods of automatic indexing and selective dissemination of information. He was a prolific writer and some of his publications are already classics. Mr Luhn will be remembered as one of the great pioneers in library automation.

THE Statement on Defence 1964, published on February 13, was essentially a review of general defence policy. Decisions relating to current operational requirements awaited the pleasure of the Defence Minister, Mr Peter Thorneycroft, in the House of Commons debate on defence on February 26.