Language in pursuit of professional branding: the case of scientific costing

The period between the 1880s and 1930 witnessed the development of concepts and discourses associated with costing as a science. Against this background, and in the context of the professionalization campaign pursued by the newly established Institute of Cost and Works Accountants (formed in 1919), we employ insights from hermeneutic analysis to examine the ascendancy and subsequent demise of 'scientific costing' as a branding strategy. Building on the earlier work of Loft (1986, 1990), we place these developments within both the internal machinations of the Institute in its early years and the wider context of the business, professional and regulatory environment of the period. We find that the rise and fall from favour of 'scientific costing' was conditioned by a number of contextual factors, not least the changing environment of the early decades of the twentieth century surrounding the emergence of scientism, its links to the efficiency gospel, and a changing rhetoric which shifted towards a business budgeting discourse. These, together with difficulties in finding a common specification of 'scientific costing' limited its usefulness as an organisational branding strategy. Implications are drawn from our study for contemporary attempts to develop branding strategies by professional accounting bodies

Internal accounting practices at Whitbread & Company c.1890-1925

This paper examines internal accounting practices at Whitbread & Company from c. 1890 to 1925. At this time, there was an increasing interest in cost accounting, but there is little detailed extant research on general internal accounting practices of firms. The brewing sector, we suggest, is a potentially fruitful realm to further our knowledge of this time. Drawing on the Whitbread brewery archival records, we chart the internal accounting practices of the company. Our findings reveal a stable set of accounting practices, focused mainly on bookkeeping, although the firm’s auditor produced some reports which may have been useful for management decision-making. We argue these practices were highly institutionalised, and seemingly resistant to external forces present in the company’s environment

Structure and dynamics of the active Gs-coupled human secretin receptor

The class B secretin GPCR (SecR) has broad physiological effects, with target potential for treatment of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Molecular understanding of SecR binding and activation is important for its therapeutic exploitation. We combined cryo-electron microscopy, molecular dynamics, and biochemical cross-linking to determine a 2.3 Å structure, and interrogate dynamics, of secretin bound to the SecR:Gs complex. SecR exhibited a unique organization of its extracellular domain (ECD) relative to its 7-transmembrane (TM) core, forming more extended interactions than other family members. Numerous polar interactions formed between secretin and the receptor extracellular loops (ECLs) and TM helices. Cysteine-cross-linking, cryo-electron microscopy multivariate analysis and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that interactions between peptide and receptor were dynamic, and suggested a model for initial peptide engagement where early interactions between the far N-terminus of the peptide and SecR ECL2 likely occur following initial binding of the peptide C-terminus to the ECD

A schedule of the Lyndall Fownes Urwick Archive

This is a schedule of an archival collection held at the PowerGen Library of the Henley Management College. The schedule contains four pages of biographical information re. Lyndall Fownes Urwick and the provenance of the archive, and 194 pages listing the main items in the collection

Neurodiversity on the Stage: The Effects of Inclusive Theatre on Youth with Autism

Abstract This study investigates the impact of participation in theatre o