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Discusses the crucial integration of engineering and production knowledge which is the objective behind the SCOPES (Systematic Concurrent design of Products, Equipments and control Systems) project. Presents the results of this three‐year project to develop a suite of integrated software modules which enable design support on the downstream functions associated with the assembly of mechanical and electromechanical products throughout the design process. Provides an outline of overall system architecture and the specifications of the individual modules – product design, assembly planning, resource planning, simulation, scheduling and flow control shopfloor control and monitoring – which make up the SCOPES solution.

The benefits of integrated design and manufacturing systems in mid to high volume production are widely accepted. The low production volume, large component size and high complexity product domain is less well served by this technology. Examples of this kind of product are machine tools, ships, aircraft and buildings. Design for assembly techniques are a method by which design and manufacture can be integrated and aid the realization of full‐process concurrent engineering. Quantifies the significance of this product domain to the UK economy, describes the particular nature of these designs for assembly processes, reviews existing work in the field and specifies the problems encountered. Defines an industrial and academic solution programme. Proposes an integrated approach to applying design for assembly to this repetitive direct engineering domain.

Federal agencies rely heavily on the annual audit report to monitor the stewardship of public funds. This study examines the impact of audit delay on the monitoring of low-income housing projects. Specifically, project characteristics correlated with delayed audit reports are determined. Significant differences between projects filing audit reports on time and those filing late are also analyzed. Importantly, samples of both Farmers’ Home Administration (FmHA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) projects are examined, with private and public/municipal housing projects included in each sample. The results of this study have monitoring applications for users of the audit report and implications for federal regulators.

This article evaluates the coping practices adopted by households in East‐Central Europe following the collapse of the socialist bloc. Drawing upon the New Democracies Barometer (NDB) survey, it is here revealed that although a common assumption is that post‐socialist societies have under gone a transition to greater reliance on the market, an analysis of household coping practices provides little evidence that this is widely the case. Instead, households in most post‐socialist societies continue to rely heavily on a multiplicity of economic practices in order to secure their livelihoods with little, if any, shift over time towards the use of the formal economy in general and the market in particular. The outcome is a call for recognition and appreciation of the heterogeneous economic practices being used by households in East‐Central Europe and for greater consideration to be given to the contributions of the in formal sector in securing livelihoods.

In the United Kingdom, partnership is increasingly a requirement of public sector funding. Such partnerships, formed strategically to win government contracts, can prove brittle; collaboration is often superficial. This chapter explores how a consortium of Scottish higher, further and adult education institutions, assembled expediently to respond to a contract arising from a Scottish Government strategy for adult literacies, nevertheless became genuinely collaborative. In the course of a six-year project to develop new professional qualifications for adult literacies tutors, a core group within the consortium developed a resilient affiliation able to lever advantage within individual institutions from its association. Its intentionality and readiness to transgress boundaries in the face of institutional obstacles were grounded in a shared pedagogical perspective. We examine how common understandings and shared objectives were forged in a series of critical incidents. The territorialism that often inhibits genuine collaboration was weakened in the face of the allegiances precipitated by these incidents. The virtual learning environment, as a shared boundary object, facilitated the negotiation of interinstitutional collaboration. We conclude that critical incidents and boundary objects can be planned into partnership working to build trust through exposure to risk and vulnerability.

The relationship between the size of state audit budgets, audit responsibilities, professional characteristics of staff, risk, and tax and expenditure limitations is explored. Bivariate relationships are examined and then a model is estimated which controls for size, complexity, financial risk factors, and political risk factors. This provides a framework for considering the incremental influence of specialized audit inputs. Both "brand names" and size have been used in past research to proxy for quality dimensions intended to differentiate the audit product provided by different suppliers. This research extends such work by considering characteristics of the auditing services as reflected by specific inputs and by using cost data rather than audit fee data. The states are observed to differ in their responses to financial and political factors by spending resources on peer review, continuing professional education, certifications of professional staff, and expertise in both the computer science area and in law. A positive association of cost and auditor differentiation, implicit in past audit fee literature is corroborated.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among strategic HRD (SHRD) practices and organizational learning; and the relationships among organizational learning and HRD outcomes through a literature review.

Keywords were identified to use in the literature search: HRD, SHRD practices, and organizational learning. All of the several electronic databases available in the university's electronic library, including both journal and book sources, were used to search for resources, as well as Google Scholar and Google.

Organizations that learn and develop their SHRD practices have more opportunities to obtain and integrate the nine HRD outcomes in the learning process: organizational mission and goals, top management leadership, environmental scanning, HRD strategies and plans, strategic partnerships with line management, strategic partnerships with HRM, trainers as organizational change consultants, influence corporate culture, and emphasis on individual productivity and participation.

The study was exploratory, based on a literature review. Empirical research is needed to examine why some SHRD practices, like culture recognition, environmental scanning, and organizational mission and goals, were suggested as key factors in organizational learning.

Instilling more SHRD practices through organizational learning may lead to more desired HRD outcomes.

The research constructs a conceptual framework to outline the relationships among SHRD practices and organizational learning. Value was created when strategic HRD practices were identified as key factors in organizational learning.

Accounting researchers have performed many studies related to public sector budgeting and financial management. Public sector accounting research seeks to explain the role of accounting and auditing in the public sector. For example, researchers examine issues such as (1) the use of accounting information by elected officials, (2) the demand for auditing, and (3) the determination of bond ratings. This review of the public sector accounting literature describes some of the theoretical foundations utilized in public sector accounting research and reviews a sample of selected empirical studies.

This paper aims to explore the potential for disclosure recommendations given by authoritative supervisory bodies to reduce information asymmetry between the management and shareholders.

There is only meagre existing evidence concerning firms' responses to disclosure recommendations. This paper uses descriptive statistics and OLS regression analysis to test if firms behave more similarly to voluntary or to mandatory disclosure when they follow the Committee of European Securities Regulators disclosure recommendation for International Financial Reporting Standards transition. Second, it analyses the determinants of and incentives for recommended transition disclosure.

Recommended disclosure is documented to have more mandatory characteristics than purely voluntary disclosure. Moreover, the certain disclosure incentives for managers and corporate governance factors prove to have an impact on recommended disclosure. Firm size, growth prospects, and independent board members associate positively with recommended disclosure whereas there is a negative relationship between financial leverage and recommended disclosure.

The paper does not provide evidence on the cost differences between disclosure laws and authoritative disclosure recommendations. This could be examined by future research.

Authoritative disclosure recommendations reduce information asymmetry. In some cases they may be a faster and more cost‐efficient way to achieve disclosure enhancements than regulation.

This paper is the first to explore the efficiency of authoritative disclosure recommendations in situations where urgent disclosure improvements are needed. The results have implications for regulatory bodies evaluating different strategies to reduce asymmetric information in these situations.