Pendapatan komprehensif dan nilai firma: peranan jawatankuasa audit

Maklumat pendapatan komprehensif lain (PKL) adalah maklumat pendapatan yang masih belum direalis namun tetap dilaporkan dalam penyata pendapatan firma. Maklumat PKL menjadi kontroversi kerana ianya sentiasa berubah, menjadikannya tidak stabil dan yang lebih kritikal adalah ianya belum direalis. Namun terkini di mana nilai saksama adalah keperluan pelaporan kewangan, maklumat PKL telah wajib dilaporkan agar pihak berkepentingan mengetahui nilai sebenar syarikat. Maka untuk meyakinkan pihak berkepentingan akan kebolehpercayaan kepada maklumat PKL ini, syarikat perlu kepada tadbir urus yang mantap termasuklah mempunyai jawatankuasa audit (JA) yang bertanggungjawab memastikan kebolehpercayaan maklumat PKL tersebut. Kajian ini meneliti peranan jawatankuasa audit (JA) di dalam hubungan antara pelaporan maklumat PKL dan nilai firma. Peranan JA dilihat secara komprehensif dan diukur menggunakan indeks keberkesanan JA yang meliputi empat dimensi iaitu komposisi, bidang kuasa, sumber daya dan ketekunan. Sampel kajian adalah 1,136 pemerhatian tahun-firma untuk tiga tahun yang terdiri daripada firma yang tersenarai di Bursa Malaysia dari tahun 2011 sehingga 2013. Data dikutip daripada pangkalan data Datastream dan laporan tahunan syarikat. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa PKL mempunyai kemampuan untuk berhubung secara positif dengan nilai firma. Manakala JA pula mempunyai tanda-tanda mampu mengukuhkan hubungan antara pelaporan PKL dan nilai firma bagi sampel kajian ini. Dapatan kajian diharap dapat memberi bukti kepada MASB dari segi kebergunaan MFRS 101 yang berkait dengan pelaporan pendapatan komprehensif dan Suruhanjaya Sekuriti Malaysia dari segi manfaat fungsi JA dalam MCCG

The information content of non-current assets / Zaleha Abdul Shukor

This thesis study examines the information content of non-current assets (NCA) during economic crisis period. Specifically this study asked two questions. First, whether NCA information content still exist during economic crisis period. Abandonment option hypothesis suggest firms’ net book value of equity has more information content than earnings, conceptually during economic crisis period. However there is vague evidence in prior literature with regards to NCA information content during economic crisis period even though NCA is the major component of net book value of equity. Second, this study asked whether NCA information content during economic crisis period might be diluted due to NCA having two major components of opposite nature, tangible and intangible NCA. There is very little evidence on the information content of tangible together with intangible NCA during economic crisis period in prior literature. This thesis research empirically test information content of NCA based on multiple regressions of three decision making models. The models are the analysts’ earnings forecasts accuracy model, the price model and the returns model. Sample data consist of all firms listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia throughout years 1990 until 2001, inclusive. Sample data is partition into three main sub-samples of three different economic conditions, namely pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods. Focus of thesis study is on crisis period proxy by the Asian financial crisis being years 1997 and 1998. Pre-crisis period cover years before 1997 and post-crisis period cover years after 1998. Pre-crisis period results suggest NCA have less information content compared to post-crisis period results. Economic crisis period results suggest NCA have information content based on NCA association with dependent variables in all three main models. Results also suggest NCA information content is better for decision on firms’ value than for predicting firms’ performance. Price models consistently show higher explanatory power compared to accuracy and returns models. In further analysis on crisis period, results provide evidence NCA information content might be diluted when examined as one item compared to when examined as components of tangible and intangibles. Findings imply that abandonment option hypothesis could be refined by investigating NCA as components rather than as one item. Findings provide evidence to financial statement preparers and accounting regulators that NCA is important information for decision making by capital market participants during economic crisis period

Underinvestment and value relevance of earnings management

The aim of this study is to examine whether earnings management among underinvestment firms is positively related to share price. Firms are said to have high growth opportunity but is unable to fund investment projects due to liquidity constraints because of the information asymmetry between the firm and the investors. As a result, firms have to provide high quality accounting information (i.e. value relevant information) to reduce information asymmetry and hence be free from liquidity constraints. One type of accounting information that can be provided is discretionary accrual (proxy for earnings management). The sample of this study is firms listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia from year 2001 to 2007. We use Ohlson’s model to examine the value relevance of earnings management. We separate earnings into managed and unmanaged earnings. Panel data regression analyses were performed to examine the role of underinvestment on the relationship between earnings management and share price. We also examine the value relevance of earnings management using the return model. The results from the panel data regression analysis indicate that earnings management increases the value relevance of accounting information. Further, underinvestment moderates the relationship between earnings management and share price. Nevertheless, the results suggest that earnings management among firms can decrease the value relevance of accounting information. In general, it is concluded that underinvestment weakens the relationship between earnings management and share price/return, hence it motivates managers to convey opportunistic earnings management

The influences of Risk Management Committee and Audit Committee towards voluntary risk management disclosure

The main objective of this study is to examine the influences of committees that are being appointed to manage risk towards voluntary risk management disclosure (VRMD) among non-financial companies in Malaysia. Non-financial companies will usually appoint either Risk Management Committee (RMC) or Audit Committee (AC) to manage their risks. Based on resource dependence theory, this study contends that the committees provide risk management resources particularly in terms of risk management information that could influence the VRMD. All data of VRMD, RMC and AC were collected from companies’ annual reports by using content analysis method. The sample in this study consisted of 395 non-financial companies which were listed on Bursa Malaysia in 2011. Our multiple regression results show that RMC presence and AC activeness increase VRMD. Our findings provide evidence that the establishment of RMC could increase the risk management disclosure among companies in Malaysia

The effects of tax audit and investigation activities on individual tax compliance : evidence from Malaysia / Razilina A. Razak, Zaleha Abdul Shukor and Norsiah Ahmad.

Tax non-compliance presents a major problem because it undermines the effectiveness of a country's macroeconomic policy. Tax non-compliance is not only affected by economic factors, but also by tax dministration and individual psychological factors. Employing the Reintegrative Shaming Theory, a survey was conducted on individual taxpayers who had experienced either being audited or investigated by the Inland Revenue Board Malaysia (IRBM). Findings on the 172 respondents indicated if taxpayers perceived their experience with tax enforcement to be reintegrative, they tended to be tax compliant in the long run. However, if taxpayers perceived tax enforcement to be stigmatized, no significant association between such an experience and future tax compliance was found. In addition, feelings of resentment either towards tax authority or tax laws tended to have a mediating effect between the perception of reintegrative enforcement experience and the tendency for tax compliance. These findings suggested that the IRBM should seriously consider an enforcement method that is of reintegrative, rather than stigmatized nature, to effectively nurture compliance among individual taxpayers

Intellectual capital efficiency and firm performance in Malaysia: the effect of government ownership

In the era of digital information, intellectual capital becomes more important to firms because the economic environment throughout the world continuously focused on the existence of knowledge capital in the firms to ensure firms’ survival. However, the existence of firms’ investment in intellectual capital is not clear because it is reported as an expense rather than asset. This situation makes the efficiency of intellectual capital investments vague which can jeopardize firms’performance and value. However this weakness could be overcome with a reliable governance in the firms. The objective of this study is to investigate the moderating effect of government ownership (a characteristic of corporate governance) in the association between the efficiency of intellectual capital and firm performance. Government ownership has always been seen by investors as controversial especially when the government seems to always taking advantage of firms’ wealth. This study utilised a sample of 1,048 firm-years data from financial statements of firms listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia for years 2012 through 2014. Findings shows a positive association between intellectual capital efficiency and firm performance. However the existence of government ownership weakens the association. Findings support the grabbing hand theory which argues that government ownership is seen as negative by stakeholders due to only taking advantage and not enhancing the existence of intellectual capital in firms. Findings show that investors still need to be alert if they want to invest in firms owned by the government in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the findings could also assist the government as owners to listed firms to improve their reputation in order to be seen as the entity that would help elevate firms’ performance which could eventually assist to heighten the capital market and economy of Malaysia

Measuring Internet Financial Reporing (IFR) disclosure strategy

There is a significant development in the accounting practices and communication due to the rapid growth of internet technology. Nonetheless, until today, financial reporting through the internet still has no legally structured standard compared to the formal international financial reporting standard (IFRS) that firms need to adhere. Yet, firms must still consider stakeholders’ decision making based on internet accounting disclosures. Since the 1990s studies on Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) apply various indexes to measure disclosure practices. However existing indexes mainly focus only on the level and quality of IFR disclosure. Our study develops a new checklist – IFR disclosure strategy checklist – to measure IFR disclosure strategy based on a taxonomy proposed by Williams (2008) which has not yet been empirically tested until today. However, the taxonomy only outlines the characteristics of each proposed strategy. Our study takes the challenge to interpret the taxonomy by developing a checklist for each characteristic that were describe in the taxonomy. Utilizing content analysis, detailed consideration was made about items in the checklist based on prior studies, available regulations in several countries as well as current practices by reporting entities. Results from reliability test indicate that our checklist is a valid and reliable instrument with regards to our sample of study. It is expected that our checklist will be referred to by reporting entities in order to assist stakeholders’ decision making. Eventually we hope that with the knowledge about the disclosure strategy, stakeholders might reduce their time and effort in searching for the best business entities when deciding upon their investment portfolio

Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) disclosure position and firm value

Nowadays, Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) disclosure is the global way to display firm performance to investors and stakeholders. Hence, it is imperative that firms properly manage their IFR disclosure to ensure their existence is conspicuous to the world in order to foster their firm value. We believe that in order to manage IFR disclosure, firms would probably behave either ritualistically or opportunistically in terms of their IFR disclosure position. In this study, we propose a quantitative measurement for the IFR disclosure position, i.e. utilizing IFR presentation score, taking into consideration latest IFR rules and regulations worldwide as well as relevant extant empirical studies. Based on a sample of 320 Malaysian listed firms in year 2012, our regression analysis shows that our quantitative measurement for the IFR disclosure position variable has a positive association with firm value. We found that 87 firms, categorized as poor performing seems to manage their IFR disclosure position ritualistically. While 233 firms, categorized as well performing manage their IFR disclosure position opportunistically. Hence, our study provide circumstantial evidence that firms’ financial performance has a relationship with IFR disclosure position. In further analysis, our findings show that stakeholders seem to perceive ritualistic IFR disclosure’s position is empirically valid to value poor performing firms. However, stakeholders seem to negate the opportunistic IFR disclosure position in valuing well performing firms even though theoretically the opportunistic IFR disclosure position should be able to offer vast benefits that could enhance firms’ value. Our findings should be useful to firms and stakeholders likewise in making firms’ valuation taking into consideration the existence of firms’ financial performance and IFR disclosure position

Environmental performance : does corporate governance matter?

Corporate environmental management and performance have become increasingly significant for companies in recent years, as they should operate in line with societal values and norms. Top management of companies, which include their board members, have an important role to play to address environmental issues, which include compliance with environmental laws and regulations. However, despite the growing number of environmental problems, stakeholder pressures and media attentions, there are relatively few studies that consider the role of corporate governance mechanisms in influencing the corporate environmental performance. This study investigates this phenomenon built upon the stakeholder theory. The study employs a matched pairs’ design method to select sample of this study; compliant and non-compliant groups of companies listed on Bursa Malaysia for the year of 2013. Data for environmental performance (EP) information were obtained from the Malaysia Department of the Environment (DOE). Data for corporate governance were collected from annual reports of sample companies to form corporate governance index. Results show that corporate governance mechanism is positively associated with the environmental performance of companies in Malaysia. Results suggest that the existence of good corporate governance would lead to higher companies’ compliance with environmental regulations that positively affects environmental performance. Additional analysis, which uses an alternative measurement for corporate governance and environmental performance measures, also confirm this finding. The results of this study highlight the importance of corporate governance mechanism in the formulation of strategic direction and operational implementation especially in the area of environmental management to meet regulatory standards and stakeholders’ expectation

Peranan diversifikasi terhadap hubungan pendedahan modal intelek dengan nilai firma

Kajian ini menguji pengaruh diversifikasi terhadap hubungan pendedahan modal intelek (modal intelek keseluruhan, modal dalaman, modal luaran dan modal insan) dengan nilai firma keatas 233 buah firma yang tersenarai di papan utama bursa Malaysia pada 31 Disember 2007. Kajian lepas membuktikan terdapat hubungan positif antara pendedahan modal intelek dengan nilai firma. Kajian lepas juga mendapati berdiversifikasi yang dilihat lebih mampu membangun dan melabur dalam modal intelek lebih cenderung membuat pendedahan sukarela.Namun,teori dan bukti empirikal mengenai kesan diversifikasi keatas nilai firma adalah tidak konsisten.Hasil ujian regresi berganda menunjukkan terdapat hubungan positif yang signifikan antara pendedahan modal intelek dengan nilai firma.Hasil kajian ini juga menunjukkan diversifikasi mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan keatas hubungan antara pendedahan modal intelek dengan nilai firma. Hubungan tersebut didapati semakin kukuh bagi firma yang tinggi tahap diversifikasinya. Keputusan ini mencadangkan diversifikasi mempunyai peranan sebagai penyederhana dalam hubungan antara pendedahan modal intelek dengan nilai firma. Seterusnya kajian ii melaporkan firma yang tinggi tahap diversifikasinya serta tinggi tahap pendedahan modal luaran akan menunjukkan pengurus firma yang tinggi tahap diversifikasinya harus memberi lebih perhatian terhadap pendedahan maklumat modal luaran bagi memastikan nilai firma mereka tidak terkurang nilai