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The management style of an organisation can influence the relative effectiveness of alternative approaches to conferencing and reporting. Implications of autocratic, supportive, custodial and collegial management styles are described. Generally, Theory X environments should be addressed with more formal reports and detailed implementation plans, Theory Y environments call for greater interaction and explicit commentary by auditees, and Theory Z environments warrant a joint approach from the initial conference to the final report. The applicability of quality circles to the communication channels between auditor and auditee is explained, with a suggestion that auditees be educated as to the advantages of the audit and internal controls.

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.

This chapter discusses what the working practices and professionalism of sports lecturers can tell us about the challenges of professionalism in further education (FE). This chapter draws on Jake's doctoral research in which he interviewed five sports lecturers working in FE colleges in England, about their identities and practices. In this chapter, Jake talks about his own experiences as a sports lecturer in FE and how his increasing disillusionment with his role led him to undertake doctoral research in this field. We explore constructions of professionalism within FE, and we show that through a process Jake identified and labelled as ‘competitive mediation’, the sports lecturers he interviewed used their experiences as elite sports people to navigate the highly performative environments in which they were working. The positives and negatives of using this strategy for them, their learners and wider society are explored in this chapter. We suggest that although Jake's research focused specifically on sports lecturers in FE settings, his insights can be applied more widely, we reflect on the importance of considering the impact our own diverse lived experiences may have on our sense of professionalism as researchers and practitioners.

TODAY the northernmost community library in Britain is the County Library of the Shetlands, with its headquarters at Lerwick, the county town, which was preceded by a series of vigorous organizations for more than a century. But for over a hundred years the Publick Bibliotheck at Kirkwall was not only the oldest but the farthest north in all Britain. The founder was William Baikie, member of a leading family and proprietor of the estate of Holland in the island of Stronsay in the Orkneys. Born about 1638, he probably attended the very old Grammar School in Kirkwall, he was a student at the University of Edinburgh in 1656 and proceeded m.a. in the next year. A relative, Rev. Thomas Baikie, minister first of the ‘second charge’ of Kirkwall and a zealous student, apparently influenced the young man toward a life in the church, but the opportunities near home were few. Orcadians were loath to move to the mainland, and besides William's inherited properties were substantial. So he spent his life as a respected heritor and collector of books.

In this article, the aim is to explore the rise of the role of the social enterprise as a “force for good” in the context of social and economic regeneration. Building on the growing importance of the third sector to central government as part of its agenda to diversify the delivery of public services, the paper seeks to question the veracity of the view that social enterprises invariably enable the communities in which they operate.

The authors have developed this conceptual paper by building on the application of Amartya Sen's capabilities approach.

It is concluded that where social enterprises are contracted to provide services to communities, including those that would previously have been provided by the public sector (within a carefully crafted statutory framework), should have a demonstrable remit for community wide action, as this, it is argued, is more likely to facilitate community wide benefits. Part of any assessment should include, first, the sustainability of the contribution; and second, the extent to which they enable community members to exercise the choice to participate in the mainstream economy and society.

This theoretical account would benefit from empirical assessment.

The article is of potential value to policy makers and researchers of social enterprise in urban, multicultural environments.

The article has attempted to use the capabilities approach to reconcile some of the tensions between the rhetoric and reality of social enterprise activity and its value in the context of the regeneration of communities.

Almost all libraries collect fiction. Of course the nature, scope, and organization of the collection varies with the type of library and its clientele. In this column scholars, fans, and just plain readers of diverse fiction formats, types, and genres will explore their specialty with a view to the collection building needs of various types of libraries. In addition to lists of “good reads,” authors not to be missed, rising stars, and rediscovered geniuses, columnists will cover major critics, bibliographies, relevant journals and organizations, publishers, and trends. Each column will include a genre overview, a discussion of access to published works, and a core collection of recommended books and authors. Janice M. Bogstad leads off with a discussion of science fiction. In the next issue of Collection Building, Ian will focus her discussion on the growing body of feminist science fiction with an article entitled, “Redressing an Interval Balance: Women and Science Fiction, 1965–1983.” Issues to follow will feature Kathleen Heim on thrillers, and Rhea Rubin reviewing short story collection building. Should you care to suggest an area or aspect of fiction collection building for discussion or try your hand as a columnist contact the column editor through Neal‐Schuman Publishers.

This paper aims to investigate strategy at the functional level, in Dubai local government. Using Miles and Snow's strategy typology, it seeks to concentrate on the relationship between the alignment of managerial characteristics with strategy type and performance.

Senior executive managers were interviewed and a questionnaire developed, based on the extant literature and issues arising from the interviews. This was distributed to functional managers within Dubai local government, and sought information regarding their personal characteristics, perceptions of requirements for implementing strategic initiatives and actual implementation approaches used. All alignments with the strategy adopted, the strategy required, and managerial characteristics and independent assessments of performance were then analysed statistically to assess the extent of alignment and congruency with performance.

Prospector managers have, on average, higher educational status than that of defender managers, with alignment of several demographic characteristics with strategic orientation leading to enhanced performance. Whilst alignments of educational attainment and organisation and job tenure with strategy are desirable, age has no effect.

By understanding the alignment relationships, more appropriate allocation of personnel will lead to increased strategic performance.

Previous studies have looked at the alignment of managerial characteristics with strategic type and aspects of performance. In all cases, the focus has been on corporate strategy, and predominantly in private‐sector organisations. The study combines these objectives and investigates the alignment between characteristics, strategy and perceived performance. It focuses on management at the functional level in a local government setting and demonstrates that classical upper‐echelon theory is also relevant at the functional level of management.

This paper analyzes citations from the first 20 volumes of Advances in Management Accounting using Google Scholar in April and May, 2013.

This study assesses the success of the first 20 volumes of Advances in Management Accounting using citation analysis. Four citation metrics are used. The four citation metrics are: (1) total citations since year of publication until April and May, 2013, (2) citations per author since year of publication until April and May, 2013, (3) citations per year since year of publication until April and May, 2013, and (4) citations per author per year since year of publication until April and May, 2013.

The top 20 authors for each citation metric, the top 20 faculties for each citation metric, and the top 20 doctoral programs for each citation metric are determined. Furthermore, the top 20 articles are determined using two citation metrics and the H-index for Advances in Management Accounting is computed.

Potential doctoral students, current doctoral students, “new” Ph.D.s with an interest in management accounting, current management accounting faculty, department chairs, deans, other administrators, journal editors, and journal publishers will find these results informative.