No description available.

No / Evidence from research conducted on corporate accounting indicates that the interaction of environmental factors influences disclosure practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of various corporate governance and cultural (race and education) characteristics, in addition to firm-specific factors, as possible determinants of voluntary (non-mandatory accounting and non-accounting information) disclosures in the annual reports of Malaysian listed corporations. The results of the regression analysis indicate significant associations (at the 5 percent level) between two corporate governance variables (viz. chair who is a non-executive director and domination of family members on boards) and the extent of voluntary disclosure. This finding has implications for corporate governance policy formulation by the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MISG). One cultural factor (proportion of Malay directors on the board) is significantly associated (at the 5 percent level) with the extent of voluntary disclosure suggesting that governmental focus on culture may solicit a response to secrecy from those who feel threatened.

No / Purpose ¿ The purpose of the paper was to examine whether, and in what way, managers perceive that the level and shape of intellectual capital (IC) within firms influences management accounting practice, specifically, performance measurement, planning and control, capital budgeting, and risk management. It also explores whether such firms are better able to respond to unanticipated economic and market changes and achieve relatively higher performance within their sector. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The paper is based on the results of a study conducted in Malaysia through a questionnaire survey in 119 large companies with varying levels of IC and selected interviews with both accounting and non-accounting executives in a subset of them. Findings ¿ The findings in the paper suggest some evolution in management accounting practices for firms investing heavily in IC. The findings are discussed and further explored through interviews in some of the firms analysed. Research limitations/implications ¿ The limitations of survey research in this paper are acknowledged, however these are ameliorated by confirmatory insights from the interviews. Further research could be carried out using more extensive case studies in companies, perhaps longitudinally, or undertaken using sector focused surveys. Practical implications ¿ It is important to show in the paper that management accounting systems reflect the strategic orientation of the companies concerned. Where a greater focus on intangibles and intellectual capital occurs it may require a different emphasis on management accounting practices compared to companies where they do not feature strongly. It is important that management recognise and act on this in order to improve corporate performance. Originality/value ¿ The paper shows that it is widely recognised that (IC), whether in the form of knowledge, experience, professional skill, good relationships, or technological capacity is a major source of corporate competitive advantage. Whilst the literature places considerable attention on the valuation, measurement and reporting of IC for external reporting purposes, far less attention has so far been given to the implications of IC for managerial accounting practice. This paper addresses this omission.

No description available.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Academic support programmes have an important part to play in addressing the needs of students experiencing difficulties. A quality assurance exercise by the national accreditation body highlighted the fact that academic staff involved in non-academic counselling had no prior training. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the academic advisor programme in a Malaysian medical school from the academic advisors’ perspective in order to determine their understanding of their role, their experiences and needs. Method: Focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 10 academic advisors were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule. Results: Study participants demonstrated some instinctive understanding of their role (especially as role models in their professional development) although they did not have clear guidelines. They strongly expressed a need for training in counselling skills and better administrative support. There was some reluctance to undertake the task of academic advising as there were no perceived rewards or incentives. Conclusions: The training of academic advisors needs to be addressed in faculty development programmes. Strong institutional administrative support is important with efficient channels of communication to academic advisors on student performance and other relevant information. Teaching activities need due institutional recognition and reward. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming

The audit expectations gap is a prominent issue in the private sector. However, in the public sector, the audit expectations gap is an emerging issue that has received little attention by reseachers. To date, only a limited number of studies on the audit expectations gap in the public sector are available, either in the context of a financial audit or a performance audit. This study focused on the audit expectations gap in the context of the latter. The importance of the performance audit function in the Malaysian public sector, combined with recent developments related to this type of audit in the country (such as increasing expectations among the users and associated problems in practice) were the reasons for conducting the study in this area. Thus, the study aims to identify the existence of the audit expectations gap in the Malaysian public sector. In achieving this objective, it explores the perceptions of auditors and Public Account Committee (PAC) members, auditees and ‘other users’ (consisting of journalists, politicians and academics). The conceptual framework in this study was developed based on Chowdhury’s (1996) and Porter’s (1993) approaches. Utilising the accountability-based framework as suggested by Chowdhury, six audit concepts (auditor independence, auditor competence, audit scope, auditor ethics, audit reporting and auditing standards) were examined. Porter’s model was subsequently utilised to identify the nature and the components of the gap. This study employed two types of research methods: interviews and audit report analysis. Interviews were conducted with 37 participants comprising of auditors, PAC members, auditees and ‘other users’. The second research method involved the examination of four performance audit reports. The findings of this study indicated that the audit expectations gap exists in the Malaysian public sector in the context of performance auditing. The analysis of interviews and audit reports clearly suggest that the audit expectations gap exists over a number of auditing issues. These comprise fraud detection exercises, the influence of management, executive and other parties on auditors, outsourcing the audit to private audit firms, content and format of the audit report and extending the audit mandate to cover the question of merits of policy.

Economic recession took effect in Malaysia in late 1984 and continued through 1985 and 1986. During this period, there was a sudden surge in economic crime. Its scale has Increased over recent years. When economic crime is on the increase, the costs to society are also increasing, not only in terms of money and property stolen by perpetrators, but also in terms of loss of confidence and respect by the public at large in our government. With the present rapid growth in business and commercial activities, economic crime has found a fertile ground. Economic crime is a 'growth industry'. Unless we study it, understand it, and develop tools to deal with it effectively, we may be witnessing only the beginning of a phenomenon that could undermine the social, economic and political stability of the country. Today's cost of economic crime in Malaysia is estimated to be more than $200 million a year. It victimises thousands of individuals. It undermines the very legitimacy of our institutions. With continued innovation in information and communications technologies, the dimensions of the problem expand; yet our legal and business systems cannot cope with what is happening today. In the opinion of the researcher, there can be little doubt that economic crime will continue to rob society as it has In the past. Despite its current scale, there has not been a study of economic crime In Malaysia. The reason is obvious; for a researcher to embark on a study in this particular area of criminal activity, there would need to be the accessibility to the highly sensitive data on such activities (while recognising that not all the crimes are detected). Many of the agencies charged with Investigation and prosecution of these non-traditional crimes, quite correctly, do not make their detailed findings public. Aggregated data, which are made available to the public, are often not sufficiently specific for research purposes. The secrecy of the Government agencies Is necessary in order for them to function effectively as law enforcement Instruments. Sutherland [1977, page 38] noted that explanations for crime could not be found in poverty alone; criminality is a much more complex phenomenon. For example, he noted that poverty Is no explanation for crimes of the rich and the professional segments of the society. It is noted by this researcher in his three years experience as the Head of Banking and Financial Investigations at the special unit of the Commercial Crime Department, Police Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur, that the problems In dealing with economic crimes could not be addressed in the same manner as In traditional crime. Studies were needed to explain and understand these crimes. From this knowledge base, there would be a better opportunity to formulate policy strategies to address the problems. This research, even though focussing in Malaysia, is meant to act as a springboard for future research within the researcher's organisation, the Royal Police Force of Malaysia, and also at least be useful for new Developing Countries which may have to encounter a similar economic crime phenomenon. The study also examines the major economic institutions in Malaysia such as cooperatives, insurance and stock-exchange and concludes that some of the main causes of economic crime are problems of management. They are: * poor quality and laxity of discipline and management; * financial and technical mismanagement in the operation of companies; * breaches of the law; * poor documentation and record keeping practices; * inadequate and ineffective control system. The findings of the research survey shows that the causes of economic crime in Malaysia are consistent with situational, opportunity and personal pressures. Economic crime in Malaysia is largely due to people who are in position of trust, who have abused their powers in a situation of poor accounting practices. Economic crime could possibly be prevented by improving the system of auditing, improving the management information system and improving the management environment.

No description available.

Texte en partie remanié de : Thesis (doctoral) : ? : University of Liverpool : 2003. / Bibliogr. p. [206]-227. Index.

This thesis focuses on compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements in Malaysia. There are four objectives that this study attempts to achieve, namely: (1) to ascertain whether present regulatory enforcement is effective in curbing non-compliance with IFRS in Malaysia; (2) to determine whether corporate ownership structure, culture and corporate governance attributes have a significant influence on the extent of compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements; (3) to identify the factors of (non-) compliance with IFRS from the perceptions of preparers and auditors; and (4) to explore the reasons why an unqualified audit report was issued despite non-compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements. This study employs a mixed methods approach to achieve the stated objectives, where annual reports of 225 Malaysian listed companies are examined and interviews with regulators, preparers and auditors are conducted. The following findings are documented in this study. Although compliance with accounting standards is mandated by law, this study demonstrates that no Malaysian company has fully complied with IFRS disclosure requirements. Similarly, the companies examined still receive unqualified audit reports despite significant non-compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements. This study argues that merely mandating compliance with accounting standards by law does not result in full compliance with accounting standards if sufficient or stringent enforcement is not in place. The Malaysian economy is dominated by family-owned companies and government-owned companies; however, this study finds that there was not enough evidence to support the influence of these ownership types on the extent of compliance with mandatory disclosure requirements. Despite the importance of corporate governance mechanisms in enhancing financial reporting quality, this study finds that only board meeting, audit committee size and audit committee expertise are significantly associated with the extent of compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements. However, the association direction for audit committee expertise is puzzling, because the negative coefficient suggests that mandatory disclosure decreases with the presence of audit committee experts. This study also provides evidence that culture (ethnicity) has a significant influence on the extent of compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements. This study also contributes to the extant literature by documenting the factors of (non-) compliance with IFRS from the perceptions of preparers and auditors. These factors are the attitude of top management, problems with accounting standards, lack of enforcement, passive investors, materiality, accountants’ attitude, undeveloped capital markets and political excuse. These (non-)compliance factors in fact cannot be revealed by statistical analysis. This study finds that materiality and true and fair view are the two reasons suggested by interviewees that can explain why unqualified audit opinion was expressed despite non-compliance with IFRS. Nevertheless, this study argues that materiality and true and fair view override might also be used (or misused) as an excuse by auditors for not qualifying audit reports in the case of significant non-compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements, given the subjective and vague concept of both materiality and true and fair view.