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The Labour Governments of 1997–2010 introduced a range of new regional institutions in England, which were subsequently abolished after the 2010 General Election. This article re-assesses the lessons which emerged from the regional policies pursued during this period and argues the Coalition Government elected in 2010 has failed to learn those lessons. The article identifies three key lessons: that place and scale matter, that local government needs to be centrally involved, and that local economic development initiatives require effective local leadership to gain the buy-in of the private sector. The lessons contained in this article retain relevance for current and future regional development efforts.

This paper explores how management accounting has evolved over recent years with the advent of web-based businesses without “bricks and mortar” and “high street shops”. Johnson and Kaplan (1987) argued that a dominant influence of financial accounting was one of the major reasons why management accounting had remained fairly static up to the 1980’s. Ever since, “newer” and “more relevant” techniques have been reported within the management accounting literature e.g throughput accounting (Dugdale and Jones, 1998) or strategic management accounting (Kaplan and Norton, 1992). Within the past ten years, though, the pace of technological change has impacted how business is done. Such change may also have influenced the way how businesses make decisions, and in turn, how they apply management accounting practices. Using constructs on general organisational change (Dawson, 2003) in an exploratory case study, we attempt to interpret the process of change in the business and resulting changes in management accounting. The case is “WebAccounting” (WA), which offers accounting software to small business online. Preliminary results show that there was a shift in focus from decision-relevant costs to decision-relevant revenues. Key performance indicators are mainly non-financial, based on and driven by the increased focus on revenues rather than costs. Additionally, WA inadvertently used some traditional management accounting techniques, albeit in a re-focused manner. Due to this paper’s exploratory nature, we cannot claim generalisability of results. However, given the novel nature of our findings and the lack of research to date on new business models and management accounting practices, we hope to encourage further research.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the statistical evidence on the effects that ill health has on labour market participation and opportunities for younger and older workers in the East Midlands (UK). Design/methodology/approach A statistical analysis of Labour Force Survey data was undertaken to demonstrate that health issues affect older and younger workers alike. This has an equalling effect on labour market opportunities, which should reduce any potential for intergenerational conflict within the workforce. Findings Although health problems that limit activities and affect the amount and kind of work an individual can undertake increase with age, there are high levels of ill health of these kinds within all age groups, including the youngest workers. Research limitations/implications The regional statistical analysis can only provide indications, and further research is required to differentiate which groups of younger and older workers suffer from which types of illnesses, as this has direct implications for their employment. Practical implications A more direct consideration of health in employment, education and training policy is required to enable the development of healthy and long‐term working lives that benefit individuals and the economy. Social implications The consideration of the effects of health issues on the labour market should lead to a reconsideration of the rhetoric, and the reality of intergenerational conflict. There might be less reason for such competition than is generally perceived. Originality/value The paper considers intergenerational conflict in a labour market context and suggests that health issues have an equalising effect for the relative positions of older and younger workers.

Purpose This paper seeks to enhance the eminent work of Burns and Scapens (2000) by introducing broader conceptualisations on organisational routines and rules in to management accounting. Design/methodology/approach The paper sets out with the Burns and Scapens (2000) framework. The paper is primarily conceptual in nature and with the addition of some more recent literature on organisational routines serves to bolster the underpinnings of the Burns and Scapens (2000) framework. Drawing especially on the work of Feldman and Pentland (2003), the nature of management accounting routines in particular is explored in some detail. By association, rules are also explored. Findings This paper proposes that an ostensive-performative distinction of routines augments our conceptualisation of how management accounting routines can represent both a source of stability and of change (simultaneously). Also, by showing how routines can represent both structure and action simultaneously, some light is shed on the ongoing interrelationship between routines and rules as highlighted in the Burns and Scapens (2000) framework and some concerns in recent literature addressed. In particular, a refined view of both routines and rules not only bolsters the work of Burns and Scapens (2000), but potentially increases its applicability as a theoretical lens to empirical studies in less formal organisations. Practical implications The proposed refinements to the Burns and Scapens (2000) framework, which aim to clarify the nature of rules and routines in a management accounting context, may be particularly useful for researchers studying less formalised (or, less rules-based) organisations. The findings emphasise the potentially more important role of the less formal concept of routines in most organisations.

This paper analyses the relationship between health and employability in the context of the East Midlands, a high employment region with a history of manufacturing and coal mining, though both sectors’ importance has declined due to considerable industrial restructuring. It is argued that the health of the unemployed and economically inactive cannot be considered without an understanding of such contextual factors. Gender, age, the socio-economic context and other external factors are key to the complex relationship between health and employability. Within a broad framework of employability, health is not merely a personal characteristic. The paper argues for more qualitative research into employability and health to establish what factors influence the relationship.