Based on panel data for almost all Dutch municipalities, we analyze changes in the mode of service production for refuse collection between 1998 and 2010. We distinguish execution by private enterprises, municipal enterprises, municipal cooperation, outsourcing to neighboring municipalities, and in-house collection. The number of municipalities using mixed forms, such as municipal enterprise, rose as the use of other forms declined, although municipal cooperation only decreased slightly.In approximately half of Dutch municipalities, the mode of production was stable between 1998 and 2010. In the other municipalities, shifts took place, with two-thirds being towards outside production and one-third towards inside production. Based on a logit model, we find some evidence of an ideological motivation for changing the mode of production. For income, we show that richer municipalities are less likely to change. We also illustrate the robustness of this result to various assumptions.Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline. com/upmj.

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In 2003, the Dutch government introduced a VAT-compensation fund in order to create a level-playing field for local governments with respect to Value Added Tax (VAT). By introducing this fund the tax difference between governments that supply services themselves and governments that contract out to the private sector was eliminated. This paper shows, however, that according to most of the municipalities differences in VAT treatment did not hinder the contracting out of public services. Therefore, the fund lacks a great deal of its legitimacy. More important, the fund is not effective, as the number of contracted public services has hardly increased since the introduction. In general, municipalities have a negative opinion about this fund. They state that more than the budgetary effects, other arguments are relevant in the decision-making on the outsourcing of activities such as the quality of services and the employment in the own municipality. As the budgetary position for a number of municipalities will decline in the near future, the fund still may stimulate the outsourcing of public services in future.

Whereas there are numerous articles about the extent to which auditors meet the expectations of others regarding the way in which they carry out their tasks (i.e. the audit expectation gap), no literature is available on this same question regarding management accountants. Analysing survey data from management accountants and their managers working in public and not-forprofit organizations, this article shows that such a 'management accountants' expectation gap' does exist as there is, on certain aspects, a difference between the expectations of managers regarding the role of the management accountant and the extent to which these expectations are met.The performance gap can be divided into two separate gaps:. A gap between what is reasonable to expect from auditors and their current responsibilities, as