Entrepreneurial intention among accounting students in UUM

The government strongly promotes entrepreneurship as a career choice among students.However, many students do not turn out to be an entrepreneur after their graduation. Students’ behavior and decision to involve in entrepreneurship can be explained by their intention. Therefore, this paper examines the relationships of attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norm and perceived behavior control on the students’ intention to be an entrepreneur based on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model.A sample of 489 final year accounting students from University Utara Malaysia completed a questionnaire consisting of 19 items measuring attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norm, perceived behavior control, and intention to be an entrepreneur.The finding of the study shows that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control are significantly influence students’ intention to be an entrepreneur.This implies that TPB model is capable to predict students’ intention towards entrepreneurship, which at the end able to explain students’ decision and behavior to be an entrepreneur in the future.The implications to the university and policy maker are discussed further in this study

The Impact of Corporate Governance on Operating Performance during Goods & Services Tax Implementation in Malaysia

The effectiveness of corporate governance provides a promising value creation to firm even during implementation of new policy for example during Goods & Services Tax (GST) implementation in year 2015. By embracing agency theory, this paper investigates five corporate governance variables relationship with operating performance (sales growth and current ratio) during and after GST implementation. This study examines 265 Malaysian listed firms for year 2015 (during) and 2016 (after) GST implementation period. The OLS regression results report that there is significant relationship of corporate governance in firm operating performance particularly during and after GST implementation. Board independent, CEO age and family CEO have positively contribute to sales growth during and after GST implementation. For working capital effectiveness during and after GST implementation, the CEO age and family CEO delineate significant positive association with operating performance (current ratio). This displays on the governance effectives in discharging their roles to strengthen operating performance particularly during a new financial or tax policy implementation that requires necessary changes in business processes. It uncovers the transparency of Malaysian corporate governance commitment and acceptance to GST for firm and country sustainable development. In sum, an effective governance system that supports the firm operating performance makes GST as a business friendly tax system

A critical review of the intellectual capital measurement approaches

The purpose of this paper is to review critically the intellectual capital (IC) measurement models found in the literature.In general, there are two broad approaches used in measuring IC: the direct and indirect methods.Each approach is reviewed by discussing the essence of the measurement models and assessing the usefulness and limitation of each approach.As a conclusion, the measurement of IC is still evolving and open for more improvement in the future.This study contributes to the literature by summarizing and synthesizing the IC measurement models used in the management and accounting literature

From fawn to deer: Measurement of a biological asset

Every morning Azri uses the same path heading to his office in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). Every time he enters the UUM's entrance, the green scenery and the fresh air of UUM's tropical lush never fail to impress him. The ambience of UUM is so peaceful and calm. UUM is known as the 'University in a Green Forest'. It is watered by two rivers that flow along the middle of the campus. Azri pulled his deepest breath. "Fresh!" he whispered. Moving around the campus, he can see the ostrich, horse, peacock, duck, deer and many more animals that become the main attraction to those who come to UUM. As long as he can remember, these animals are reported as 'living assets'. Mr Azri is the UUM's accountant at Bursar Department, and he started to mainly review these assets after he had been transferred to the Asset Unit as the head of the unit. Not only 'living assets', but this unit was also made responsible to in charge the entire assets in UUM. In terms of reporting, the task of his group is to prepare the financial report of UUM's assets, including the 'living assets'. Suddenly, his tranquillity was disturbed. He remembered the order came by the UUM's Bursar last week, to accurately recognize, measure and disclose the value of 'living assets' according to appropriate accounting standard. All this while, UUM was using Malaysian Private Entities Reporting Standards (MPERS) in reporting and preparing the UUM's financial statements. Recently, the Malaysia Public Sector Accounting Standard (MPSAS) has been urged to be used to replace MPERS in reporting and preparing the UUM's financial statements. Azri thought whether to change the current Standard and if so, how to treat and disclose biological assets under the new accounting Standard

Predicting entrepreneurship intention among Malay university accounting students in Malaysia

The Malaysian government strongly promotes entrepreneurship as a career choice among students.However, many students do not turn out to be entrepreneurs after their graduation, especially Malays.The students’ behaviour and decision to get involved in entrepreneurship can be further explained by their intention.Therefore, this study identifies factors that influence students’ intention to become an entrepreneur based on the model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB).A sample of 121 final year Malay accounting students completed questionnaires from Universiti Malaya and Universiti Utara Malaysia, consisting of 18 items measuring attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, and intention to be an entrepreneur was compiled. The findings of the study show that all three factors significantly influence students’ intention to become entrepreneurs.Out of these three factors, perceived behavioural control emerged as the strongest factor that had a strong influence on intention.This implies that the TPB model is capable of predicting students’ intention towards entrepreneurship, and further explain the students’ decision to become an entrepreneur in the future.The implications to the theory and policy makers are discussed further in this study

The Influence of Board Diversity on Environmental Disclosures and Sustainability Performance in Malaysia

Sustainable growth and environmental issues have been one of the critical topics discussed by governments, legislators and environmentalists worldwide. These issues have vital impacts on the future sustainability performance of a company, societies, environment and other interrelated ecosystem. The objectives of the study are three-folds (i) to examine the extent of environmental disclosures (ER) among industrial listed companies, (ii) to examine the factors which motivate companies to disclose ER and (iii) to assess the impact of ER disclosures on sustainability performances in terms of returns on invested capital (ROIC) and sustainable growth (SG). Based on content analysis, this study finds that the level of ER disclosures is very low with an average ER Disclosure Score of only 26%. Hence more efforts are needed to motivate firms to disclose environmental activities.  Using hierarchical tobit regression with robust standard error, this study finds that board diversity (Muslim directors), firm size, profitability and growth have significant influence on ER disclosures. Other board characteristics such as board size and board independence were not significant drivers of environmental disclosures. Firm size and growth had strong significant effect on one-year ahead and average 3-year future performances while the results of ER disclosures on future performances are insignificant. Keywords: environmental reporting, sustainability growth, board diversity, Muslim, gender, integrated reporting. JEL Classifications: G38, M14, Q56 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.950

Intellectual Capital Efficiency and Firm Financial Performance: Evidence from South East Asian Countries

This study applies a modified version of the Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) model proposed by Pulic (1998; 2000) to investigate the impact of IC on financial performance of listed firms in five South East Asian (SEA) countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand over the period 2006 to 2013. The sample employed consists of 16,039 firm-year observations. Financial performance is measured using return on equity and return on assets ratios. The study employs the VAIC model to measure aggregate IC efficiency and its elements: human capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency and tangible capital efficiency. The test results indicate that aggregate IC has a positive and significant impact on financial performance of listed firms in the five SEA countries. The results also show that, among the components of IC, human capital and tangible capital both have positive and significant impact on financial performance of listed firm in the five SEA countries. However, structural capital has a negative impact on financial performance of firms in all SEA countries other than Thailand, which contradicts the theoretical expectation

Predicting entrepreneurial intention: A comparison of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to compare the applicability of Theory), of Reasoned Action(TRA) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in predicting entrepreneurial intention atnong undergraduate students.Desigdmethodology - Data were collected from 121 undergraduate accounting students in Universiti Malaya and Universiti Utara Malaysia. Multiple regression analysis was employed to examine and compare the two competing models in terms of overall fit and explanator), power. Findings - Results showed that both theories are fit in predicting entrepreneurial intention. All variables (attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control) had signrficantly influence the entrepreneurial intention. In TRA, attitude variable is stronger than subjective norm; while in TPB, perceived behavior control variable is stronger than attitude and subjective norm. Based on adjusted R2, TPB model has higher value than TRA model. It shows that TPB model is better than TRA in predicting students' intention towards entrepreneurship of which the perceived behavior control element shall be emphasized. Research limitations/implications - Since the sample consisted ofthe undergraduate accounting students, findings could not be generalized to other undergraduate students. Therefore, a more comprehensive study should be conducted to extend the samples to cover other programs in universities in Malaysia. Practical implications - The policy makers and higher institution should focus on the factors that can influence students' entrepreneurial intention in encouraging them to become entrepreneur after their graduation. Originality/value - This is the first study that compares TRA and TPB applicability in predicting entrepreneurial intention in entrepreneurship context