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The paper aims to offer an exploration of the Banking Act 1987 which was passed following the failure of Johnson Matthey Bankers (JMB) in 1984. This Act extended the role of auditors in banking supervision by removing traditional confidentiality constraints and created a new role of “reporting accountant”. The paper seeks to examine the origin and development of these new reporting roles. In addition, the paper considers the extent to which the findings of this historical investigation might contribute to current debates on the role of auditors in banking supervision.

The paper draws on official documents, personal accounts of individuals responsible for dealing with the JMB crisis, and semi‐structured interviews conducted with audit partners and banking supervisors who had direct experience of implementing the supervisory reforms instituted under the Banking Act 1987. Power's explanatory schema of controversy, closure and credibility is adopted as a framework for the analysis of documentary sources and interview data.

The failure of JMB generated sufficient controversy so as to require reform of the system of banking supervision. The paper shows that JMB was a controversy since it disturbed what went before and carried with it sufficient allies for change. To achieve closure of the controversy, agreement by key actors about changes to the nature of the role of auditors was required to ensure legitimacy for the reforms. Backstage work undertaken by the auditing profession and the Bank of England provided the necessary credibility to renormalise practice around the new supervisory arrangements.

The paper develops Power's schema which is then employed to analyse the emergence of the new role of reporting accountant and extended role for auditors in UK banking supervision. The paper provides empirical evidence on the processes of controversy, closure and credibility that help to ensure the legitimacy of accounting and auditing change.

Describes a culture‐change program, supported by employee development, at Leighs Paints.

Explains the reason for the changes, the way in which they were implemented and the results they have achieved.

Reveals that staff turnover has fallen from 14 percent to 4 percent a year, absenteeism is down from 8 percent to 1.8 percent and productivity has risen by 98 percent in the decade since the changes were introduced. A failing company has been transformed into a highly successful one.

Explains that employees are now empowered, team‐work is strong and a “can do” attitude prevails.

Highlights how developing a sense of pulling together has helped to make Leighs Paints an employer of choice.

Claims that turning the hierarchy upside down, and being led by the employees, is unusual in a paint manufacturer.

An automatic paint dispensing system installed at W & J Leigh of Bolton has eliminated traditional methods of manual tinting and shade matching to improve production rates and bring greater flexibility. The Eurotinter, supplied by OBS Machines of Milton Keynes, delivers precise quantities of stainers according to batch size to give an exact shade in one dispense. W & J Leigh report the system typically saves at least 1.5 man hours per batch over the previous method of manual adjustment and shade correction. When the system is complete and all the formulations stored, the time to complete a batch tinted to any shade will be reduced from overnight, to less than 1 hour.

In the May/June 1982 issue of RDM we published an article by Stuart Eliot of UMIST which discussed the contribution that superstores can make to inner city areas. In this article Leigh Sparks develops some of the points made by Stuart Eliot, and in particular discusses the employment and locational policies of superstore retailers in more detail. However, there are considerable costs involved for retailers in opting for inner city location, as has already been pointed out by more than one major retailer. Occupancy costs — especially rates and car‐parking — are considerably more than the same costs in an edge‐of‐town location. There are also indirect costs in terms of the greater risks arising out of vandalism and shrinkage. Distribution and handling costs are, in general terms, lower in single‐storey stores which are more suited to edge‐of‐town locations. But, argues Leigh Sparks, why should retailers be expected to pay the cost of the government's inner city dilemma? The government should recognise the contribution that inner city superstores can make in employment and social terms, and extend inducements to retailers by way of capital expenditure and rates allowances.

Describes an approach to maximizing team performance which integrates traditional business methods with those of the performing arts. Defines the ACE team as aligned, creative and exploring, and explains how the ACE Team Star Profile can be used to create a visual profile of a team′s strengths and development needs.

July 17, 1969 Trade Union — Rules — Construction — Nomination of member for presidency refused — Eligibility — Whether discretion in general secretary to review nominations — Application to court for interlocutory relief — Jurisdiction of court — Whether ousted — Whether resort first to be had to domestic remedies where member aggrieved.

Examines how Wigan & Leigh College, in partnership with learning expert Academee, has put in place policies, practices, training and development to promote equality and inclusion for staff and students and to create a culture where diversity is valued.

Draws on information provided by the college's staff‐development co‐ordinator and by the director of diversity at Academee.

Describes how the strategic management team took part in a three‐day workshop to raise awareness of key issues and to expand the action plan. The college appointed internal equality and diversity champions. An ambitious target of training more than 150 college staff in under three months was achieved. Building on this, Academee and the college began to develop spin‐off training programmes aimed at different groups of staff.

Reveals that the college's mission statement and core values now reflect its focus on diversity and equality. There is an increased and broader awareness of equality and diversity across the college. Both staff and students are more conscious of how equality and diversity affect their day‐to‐day activities.

Shows that staff and students at the college have become increasingly diverse over the past four years, and the college is also helping to promote integration within the town as a whole.

Due to the diversity of academics engaging with research into higher education, there is no single methodological approach or method that would embody higher education research. In this chapter, we put forward the case that this is a good thing and argue that higher education research can benefit from fusing existing methodological and theoretical paradigms with more creative, playful and artistic approaches, more commonly associated with sociological or anthropological research and performance-based disciplines. In order to frame this attitude of creativity, playfulness and openness, we start by providing a brief delineation of the research field and methods of higher education research. In this context we introduce the Deleuzoguattarian concept of rhizomes and assemblages to provide the grounding for what we mean by creativity and playfulness, which leads to our proposal of a renewed approach to research into higher education. We draw upon our own work on embodied academic identity and trainee teachers’ perceptions of their placement experiences in order to critically explore the benefits and potential pitfalls of incorporating this creativity and playfulness into higher education research.