Review of scientific achievements in the field of management accounting and controlling presented at the “Accounting and controlling” conference

Purpose: The aim of the article is to verify and assess the current state of scientific publi-cations in the field of management accounting and controlling presented at the conference “Accounting and controlling”. Metodology/approach: An analysis of the papers submitted to the conference was carried out in terms of the number of publications based on university affiliation, degree of partici-pant interest in the conference, and issues raised in the area of management accounting and controlling. Findings: The issues raised in the articles submitted to the “Accounting and controlling” conference demonstrate that interest in the issues of management accounting and control-ling is significant. However, despite the 25 years of scientific discourse, there is still a wide variety of opinions on the concept of controlling, its mission and specifications, as well as the place of controlling as a discipline in enterprises. Accounting tools that support man-agement are presented in many publications. However, there are also publications that discuss original concepts in the field of the methodology of controlling. Originality/value: The article summarises national scientific achievements in the field of management and controlling presented in the series of 25 editions of the conference “Account-ing and controlling. Keywords: controlling, management accounting, controlling tools, “Accounting and control-ling” conference.

Learning from Surgery: How Medical Knowledge is Constructed

Using data collected from surgeons working in a transplantation unit in Portugal this article aims to identify how medical knowledge is constructed within the context of surgery. The key theoretical guidelines are drawn from the sociology of professions and medical sociology, particularly social constructivist studies. A qualitative methodological approach was adopted, in which we opted for a partici-pant observation and on-site interviews. Three hypotheses are addressed: 1) the recent shift towards Evidence-Based-Medicine (EBM) influences the primacy of clinical experience in the construction of medical knowledge; 2) medical experience does not strongly links with EBM principles; 3) personal experience is central in the construction of medical knowledge and discourse. This article provides a new window into the study of medical profession, a step forward in the research field. Conclusions show new understanding about EBM practice, insofar as it ties the production of medical knowledge to professional dynamics and autonomy.

'Planning Economic Integration7, by L.B.M. Mennes, Rotterdam University Press, 1973.

The book under review deals with economic integration among deve¬loping countries from the point of view of planning. The author believes that it is useful to approach economic integration from a planning point of view and to develop planning models for it, because the theory of economic integration relevant for developing countries should be directed towards the impact of integration on future investments and future production. The type of models used in the book are the multisector linear programming models and the method of analysis is essentially a comparison of two situations; one with economic integration and the other without. For each prospective partici¬pant a medium term planning model is drawn up taking account of its economic situation in some base year. The results of these single country planning models are analysed and compared to those of a similar planning model for the integration area as a whole. The consequences of the integration policy are then evaluated.