A work role perspective of accountants in local government service departments

In most of the largest U.K. local authorities the financial control function is highly centralised with no qualified accountant or controller located in each spending department. There now may be the beginnings of a trend towards employing accountants within service departments. The paper analyses how this new segment of public sector accounting appears to be becoming established, how the role of these accountants is being developed and the contrasting occupational values of accountants in service departments and those in the finance department. It is also shown how the existence of a strong accounting profession in local government can lead to different aspects of both the financial control structure and process in comparison with central government such that research results on the latter may not automatically hold at local level.     

A note on linear utility

This note shows how a spectrum of specific axiomatizations for linear utility for decision-making under risk can be integrated under a generalized axiom scheme in which one of the two binary relations used in the axioms parameterizes specific applications.     

CORPORATE CULTURE AND MORALITY: DURKHEIM-INSPIRED REFLECTIONS ON THE LIMITS OF CORPORATE CULTURE

In the May 1986 issue of Journal of Management Studies, Ray argued that Corporate Culture protagonists have stumbled upon the central ideas of the classical sociologist Durkheim, especially those concerning morality. However, this article demonstrates important differences between corporate culture discourse and the Durkheimian concept of morality. Durkheim's views on moral autonomy, his diagnosis of the problematic nature of modern utilitarian values and his insistence on society as the source and the goal of morality are applied as a frame of reference that allows an identification, analysis and discussion of problematic assumptions about man, organization and society in corporate culture discourses. On this basis, the article discusses the relatively limited fulfilment of the promises issued by corporate culture protagonists, which can be observed by reflecting on the past decade, as well as some alternative ideas for organizational culture practitioners and researchers.     

ENERGY CONSERVATION AND LIFESTYLES: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO FAMILY DECISION MAKING*

The role of energy in supporting the family ecosystem is reviewed in terms of energy technology and family behaviour, information needs and family choice. The complexity of the family's dependence upon energy is highlighted as a major deterrent to effective decision making that would yield more energy-thrifty lifestyles. Some examples of the energy costs of different lifestyle choices are reviewed based upon research currently in progress. Finally some procedures are suggested for improving the supply of information to consumers and some family decision making strategies are recommended as more fruitful than others.