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The purpose of this paper is to assess whether current routinely available population level data are adequate for assessing the health needs of vulnerable children.

The paper presents a review of routinely available population level data relating to 23 vulnerable child groups.

Data were available to measure how many children may be affected locally for seven groups (30 per cent) (looked after children, care leavers, absent or excluded pupils, children in poverty, young offenders, children in need and children assessed to be at risk of social services). Partial data were available for 11 (48 per cent) groups and no data were identified for five (22 per cent) groups. At least one measure of health and well being status was identified for three groups (13 per cent) (care leavers, children assessed to be in need of social services and children assessed to be at risk by social services). For seven groups (30 per cent), a measure of health status was identified for some children in the group. No measure of health status was identified for 13 groups (57 per cent).

The review only considered routinely published data that can be reported for all counties or unitary authorities in England. Although every effort was taken to ensure complete identification, it is still possible that some data sources may have been missed.

The gaps in available data to monitor vulnerable children's health will make the task of ensuring their needs are appropriately represented in local needs assessment and health strategies more difficult. The current service reforms offer an opportunity to address the data gaps.

Data relating to some vulnerable child groups was reviewed in 2006 when a number of recommendations were made. This paper updates and broadens that review and reports on progress made against the 2006 recommendations. The findings of the paper have implications for policy makers and commissioners of children's services.

The aim of the research is modelling and implementation of a client application that enables parallel search and retrieval of bibliographic records from multiple servers. The client application supports simultaneous communication over Z39.50 and SRW/SRU protocols. The application design is flexible and later addition of other communication protocols for search/retrieval is envisioned and supported.

Object‐oriented approach has been used for modelling and implementation of client application. CASE tool, Sybase PowerDesigner, supporting Unified Modelling Language (UML 2.0), was used for modelling. Java programming language and Eclipse environment were used for implementation.

The result of the research is a client application that enables parallel search and retrieval of multiple Z39.50 and SRW/SRU servers. Additionally, the application supports conversion from type‐1 query language, defined by Z39.50 standard, to CQL query language required for search/retrieval from SRW/SRU servers. The application was verified by performing parallel search and retrieval from several publicly accessible Z39.50 and SRW/SRU servers.

The application supports only the use of bib‐1 attribute set for type‐1 queries created according to Z39.50 standard. Hence, only such queries can be converted to CQL notation. The use of other attribute sets is not supported.

The client application is integrated into the BISIS software system, version 4. This enables the cataloguing of bibliographic records retrieved over Z39.50 and SRW/SRU protocol.

The contribution of this work is in client application architecture that enables parallel communication with multiple servers, which can use different communication protocols, Z39.50 or SRW/SRU. Search/retrieval from servers using some other protocol is also supported. This can be achieved by adding new classes that implement protocol specification, and classes for query transformation into notation required by that new protocol, if required.

This paper examines the career progression of women auditors working in auditing firms in Tanzania and the strategies employed by women auditors to cope with the masculine nature of audit firms.

Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with current and former female and male auditors in two auditing firms. A thematic approach to the analysis is adopted.

The study reveals that career progression of women auditors studied is constrained by gender-related barriers such as motherhood, pregnancy, maternity leave and limited coaching and networking, as well as household and caring responsibilities. These barriers are facilitated by the patriarchal system, which regards women as wives and mothers rather than professional workers. As a result, women auditors balanced work and family responsibilities by employing various coping strategies including establishing informal network organization, hiring nannies, living with family members, enrolling children to boarding schools and lobbying in the allocation of audit assignments. Despite employing these strategies, very few women reach top positions in audit firms in Tanzania.

The findings reveal a need for wider engagement on the role of women and men in society, particularly to address the gender-related barriers faced by women in the accountancy profession.

Most previous studies of gender in the accountancy profession have focused on Western contexts. This is one of few to examine the phenomenon in an African context.

This paper aims to examine the perceptions of owners and accountants of small- and medium-sized entities (SMEs) on the users and their financial information needs of SME financial reporting.

Postal questionnaire surveys with owners and accountants of SMEs were used to identify users and their financial information needs. In total, 1,498 questionnaires were sent to SME owners and accountants. A total of 358 questionnaires were returned, generating 323 useable questionnaires. The management branch of stakeholder theory is used for the study which asserts that company management is expected to meet the expectations of those stakeholders who are more powerful than others.

The users of Sri Lanka SME financial information were limited to owners, banks and Department of Inland Revenue. Users and financial information needs of owners varied in relation to the size of the SME. Financial information are useful for making capital investment and planning decisions for owners regardless of the size of the SME. By sharing information with outside parties, disclosures can diminish information asymmetries between the firms and its stakeholders. The top three reasons for which owners use SME financial information are for planning purposes, estimating income tax liabilities, and taking marketing and pricing decisions.

Since the study focuses only on the views of owner-managers and accountants of SMEs, the holistic understanding of uses of SME financial information by other user groups cannot be achieved.

The results of this study provide international and local standard setters with an indication of future direction for SME financial reporting.

This paper extends existing knowledge on users and their financial information needs of SMEs in developing countries. Consequently, the findings of this paper make a valuable contribution to the work of practitioners such as local and international standards-setters and regulators who may be considering developing/revising financial reporting framework for SMEs either worldwide or in developing countries.

Although SME financial reporting has attracted enormous attention in the recent accounting literature, academic research into SME financial reporting is scant. This paper extends existing knowledge on users and their financial information needs of SMEs in developing countries. The general purpose financial reporting model and the accounting standard IFRS for SMEs in particular would not be applicable to Sri Lankan SMEs unless it modifies to reflect the financial information needs of users of Sri Lankan SME financial information.

This study aims to explain the driving forces behind the development of accounting regulatory institutions in post-colonial Libya.

The historical method is used to interpret relevant documentary evidence in the development of accounting in Libya vis-à-vis developments in the country’s post-colonial political-economic history.

The development of accounting regulation in Libya is traced to post-colonial political-economic history that occurred independent of the country’s colonial past. The immediate aftermath of colonialism (1951-1968) showed that Western accounting practices used by Western businesses operating in Libya were imbued by pro-Western ideology. Basic legislative requirements for accounting and auditing emerged during this period through legislation. Two distinct epochs surfaced during Muammar Gaddafi’s rule: initially, the state advocated a centrally planned economy, but in the 1980s, an ideological shift occurred, which opened the Libyan economy to the global market. The first epoch saw the formation of accounting regulatory agencies consistent with the state-centred organisation of society, and the second epoch engendered the development of accounting standards consistent with the developments in market-centred societies during the era of globalisation.

The study offers unique historical evidence on the development of accounting regulation in a developing country independent of its colonial history. The study enhances our understanding of how the interplay between the political economy and the ideological basis of the state determines the historical path of accounting as a basis for predicting the possible future direction of accounting development.

This paper aims to describe the experiences of the National Library of Wales in implementing an integrated information management system.

Discusses the stages involved in the procurement process, data migration and general system implementation.

Emphasises the need for a well‐prepared yet flexible approach to project planning, and the need for consultation and an ongoing dialogue with staff.

Describes the progress of the implementation to May 2007.

This paper provides a case study for libraries looking to procure and implement an information management system.

Drawing from social cognitive theory, the purpose of this study is to examine how personal, environmental and behavioral factors can interplay to influence people's use of YouTube as a learning resource.

This study proposed a conceptual model, which was then tested with data collected from a survey with 150 participants who had the experience of using YouTube for learning. The bootstrap method was employed to test the direct and mediation hypotheses in the model.

The results revealed that personal factors, i.e. learning outcome expectations and attitude, had direct effects on using YouTube as a learning resource (person → behavior). The environmental factor, i.e. the sociability of YouTube, influenced the attitude (environment → person), while the behavioral factor, i.e. prior experience of learning on YouTube, affected learning outcome expectations (behavior → person). Moreover, the two personal factors fully mediated the influences of sociability and prior experience on YouTube usage for learning.

The factors and their relationships identified in this study provide important implications for individual learners, platform designers, educators and other stakeholders who encourage the use of YouTube as a learning resource.

This study draws on a comprehensive theoretical perspective (i.e. social cognitive theory) to investigate the interplay of critical components (i.e. individual, environment and behavior) in YouTube's learning ecosystem. Personal factors not only directly influenced the extent to which people use YouTube as a learning resource but also mediated the effects of environmental and behavioral factors on the usage behavior.