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The aim of the paper is to examine the support mechanisms that exist for small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Ireland and how access to government contracts can be improved for SMEs. The paper will investigate the rationale for SME involvement in public procurement, as well as drawing upon a series of interviews carried out with government suppliers in Northern Ireland. This paper concludes that even though there are support mechanisms for SMEs at both a UK and at a European level, government tendering procedures need to be simplified to ensure easier access to contracts for SMEs.

This paper aims to report lessons learnt from six countries in addressing financial crises; what they have done and the impact. It is intended that these lessons are constructive in shaping responses to the current and future financial crises.

A multiple, mini case study approach is taken which makes use of social media.

The findings suggest that the strategy being pursued within the UK for addressing the financial crisis is generally untested and therefore high‐risk. The evidence cautions that local recovery can be expected to be significantly longer than one political cycle, that social impacts will be greater than expected, and there is over‐optimism in some of the strategic tools being adopted in the UK's deficit recovery.

Those participating, while in senior roles, were being asked to answer big questions, and although there is no reason to believe they were not answering truthfully, there are limits to what they could have reasonably been expected to know.

The research provides lessons for local government on how their international peers have responded to the financial crises. The intention is these international lessons will help central and local government shape timely, effective and appropriate responses, while minimising costly mistakes. It is also hoped the lessons will serve as a “reality check” for policy makers.

The research also suggests there is a high risk that existing policy may be ambitious and have unintended adverse social implications.

The research approach is innovative in its use of social media. The research probes the impact on councils of financial crises at a local level and reports unintended consequences which might not otherwise have been identified. Lessons from other countries' responses may also be of benefit in developing future responses.

Public procurement is one of the principal instruments used by the Commission to open up the European Single Market. This paper presents a critical assessment of public procurement policy in the context of developing policies on electronic commerce and the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) within the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The paper focuses on how business can access public procurement opportunities in Europe, and what opportunities exist for improved electronic means of access to information. The proposed future for electronic tendering in Europe, SIMAP, is discussed and compared to similar systems in the USA. The paper suggests that a new legislative framework is required for public procurement and electronic commerce in Europe to ensure that governments and businesses do not suffer a competitive disadvantage in the electronic future of world trade.

Are quality initiatives in the public sector part of a political project or can they be a legitimate goal? These contrasting, but not necessarily incompatible, interpretations will be examined in this paper, first, by reviewing approaches to quality and their application in the public sector in general, and second, with reference to a case study based on assessment of the Government Purchasing Agency (Northern Ireland) against the European Quality Model (EQM) criteria. Through this, the paper concludes that quality improvement can be a legitimate goal and political project at the same time; that private sector quality models need to be adapted and integrated with other methods to fit public sector organisations; and finally, that their application to a commercially oriented departmental agency (whose customers are largely internal rather than the public at large) is easier than to other public sector organisations in more contentious, politically charged areas.

The era of austerity that has followed the outbreak of the global financial crisis has posed a myriad of challenges for public services, with demands for major cuts in government spending, the delivery of balanced budgets and zstrategies for deficit reduction. The purpose of this paper is to consider how public sector accounting and accountability systems are implicated in the development and implementation of austerity policies. Also, it pinpoints a range of issues that accounting researchers need to be contemplating on the subject of accounting for austerity.

Interdisciplinary literature review, coupled with an illustrative discussion of the changing nature of public sector accounting practices under austerity.

Despite the significance and scale of austerity, public sector accounting research on the topic is in its infancy, with the prominent focus being on how accounting technologies are used to manage austerity. There have been few attempts to debate critically the construction of austerity and to provide alternative accounts of austerity. Accounting for austerity, especially in terms of its implications and consequences, is far too complex and challenging to be categorized as simply seeking to “balance the books”.

As an academic community, we need to be developing understanding of public sector accounting research under austerity across different organizational levels and contexts. Also, we should be framing the accounts of austerity in ways that respect and build on a sound understanding of the extensive available interdisciplinary research on this topic. Key research questions to address include: how is accounting shaping constructions of, and impressions, attitudes and behaviors toward, austerity and the status of governments and public service organizations? What do such patterns of development mean for the roles and contributions of public sector accountants under austerity? Are accounting systems destined to be used primarily as vehicles for cost-cutting, or can they be used as engines for growth and for thinking about public service responsibilities in more socially inclusive forms?

Accountings of austerity in the field of public sector accounting research have been worryingly limited. This paper and the papers in this special issue of AAAJ address such failings, revealing a range of critical implications and challenges of austerity policies for public sector accounting research.