Chris Clark is senior lecturer in social work at the University of Edinburgh. Irvine Lapsley is Professor of Accounting and Director of the Institute of Public Sector Accounting Research at the University of Edinburgh

• Introduction, Chris Clark and Irvine Lapsley, University of Edinburgh. 1. Care management: putting the principles into practice, Alison Petch, University of Glasgow. 2. Assessing and managing care: what future for the independent sector? Stephen Maxwell, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, and Mike Titterton, independent training and research consultant. 3. Care management practice: lessons from the USA, Phyllis J. Sturges, San Jose State University, California. 4. The assessment process, Terry McLean, Robert Gordon University. 5. Care management: a manager's perspective, Laura Bannerman and Bill Robertson Tayside Regional Council. 6. Care management: meeting different needs, Lorna Cameron and Isobel Freeman, Strathclyde Regional Council. 7. Costs, budgets and community care, Irvine Lapsley, University of Edinburgh. 8. Costing care needs for disabled people: an accounting approach, Margaret King and Sue Llewellyn, University of Edinburgh. 9. The costs of informal care, Ann Netten, University of Kent. Caring, costs and values: a concluding comment, Chris Clark, University of Edinburgh.

Clearly show[s] how far there is to go in working out the cost of care services, and more importantly, in relating financial costs to the value of care, and the mandate of those who have the job of delivering it.