Factors influencing the design and use of performance measurement systems in the Malaysian electrical and electronics industry

Data from a questionnaire survey covering 149 electronics and electrical manufacturing companies in Malaysia are used to identify the factors influencing the design and use of performance measurement systems (PMSs). Factor analysis identified organizations’ contextual factors as potential contingency variables that include: (1) two dimensions of organisational profile—company size and ownership types; (2) four dimensions of organisational culture—knowledge and innovation, learning culture, absorptive capability and employee’s understanding and learning; (3) four dimensions of organisation strategy—stakeholder focus, pricing and distribution, marketing segmentation and growth; and (4) four dimensions of technology—information technology and customisation, volume and variety of product and process, information and technological advancement, and product complexity

Reward system and performance within Malaysian manufacturing companies

This study examines the relationship between the reward system and organization’s financial performance. Data is collected through a questionnaire survey covering 105 manufacturing companies in Malaysia. Data gathered is analyzed quantitatively such as linear regression analysis is adopted in order to investigate the interrelationship between research variables. Results and findings of this study include: (1) most of the manufacturing firms provide both monetary and non-monetary rewards; (2) adoption of reward system is not influenced by age and size of the company; (3) negative relationship exists between extrinsic rewards and financial performance of organizations and (4) intrinsic rewards are positively related to financial performance of organizations. This study has provided important information into the implementation of reward system on organization’s performance

The impact of environmental improvements on the financial performance of leading companies listed in Bursa Malaysia

This paper analyses the relationship between environmental improvement and the financial performance of firms on a sample of 78 leading companies listed in Bursa Malaysia. This study uses content analysis to verify the extent of information disclosed and reported by companies. The results indicate that efforts to embrace environmental improvement and activities may help firms gain financially

Sustainability reporting and financial performance of Malaysian Public Listed Companies

Sustainability reporting has become increasingly common in recent years for companies across the globe. It is seen as an approach that can integrate and balance the performance of a business’ economic, environmental and social dimensions. The main issue now is not solely about complying with the mandatory rules or ensuring the company’s reputations, but sustainability to promote efficiency in business and improve productivity. Although sustainability reporting is not a new concept, its implementation is still unsystematic. Management, it appears, is not convinced on the importance of sustainability reporting due to high costs and difficulty of measurements. These have resulted in ignorance, negligence and unsystematic nature of economic, social and environmental reportage on sustainability in Malaysia. Reporting percentage in Malaysia remains very low despite it being ranked the highest in Southeast Asia. Despite the rise in the sustainability reporting globally, there is limited academic research on sustainability reporting in Malaysia while conventional accounting practices somewhat reduced the need for sustainability reporting. This research investigates the relationship between sustainability reporting and financial performance of Malaysian Public Listed Companies. In the summary of findings, the regression results suggest that economic, social and environmental sustainability reporting is positively associated with financial performance measured using Return on Assets and Return on Equity

Hedging effectiveness of crude palm oil futures market in Malaysia

This paper investigated the hedging effectiveness of crude palm oil futures market in Malaysia from January 2009 to June 2011 which traded under Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad. Ordinary Least Squared (OLS) method was used to compute Minimum-Variance hedging ratio (MVHR), R-squared and hedging effectiveness by using daily data from settlement price of crude palm oil futures contracts and spot price of crude palm oil. The empirical results indicate that the highest hedging ratio has been observed in the February 2009 FCPO contract, 66.7660%. Meanwhile, the lowest hedging ratio occurs in June 2010 contract which is 35.7131%. In overall, Malaysia FCPO market only provides a low level of hedging effectiveness (19% - 53%) due to less volatility of CPO spot price. As a conclusion, hedging effectiveness of crude palm oil futures market in Malaysia shows a low level of hedging effectiveness. This result indicates that the spot price of crude palm oil in Malaysia is relatively stable and consistent over the period of 2009 to 2011. The outcome of this research intends to provide hedging information of the Malaysia FCPO futures market in order to cover risk exposure by holding FCPO in BMD

The effect of accountant reputation on initial public offerings in Malaysia

This paper assesses the characteristics and the influence of accountants’ reputations on the underpricing of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) stocks listed in the Main Board and Second Board of the Malaysia Stock Market. The sample data comprises of the first day price and the issue price of IPOs stocks selected from the financial year of 2005, 2006 and 2008. Results showed that there is a significant positive first day return, indicating a certain degree of underpricing in the IPOs stocks. However, there are no significant differences for returns, risks and coefficient of variation among the two groups of IPOs stocks audited respectively by the Big Four and non Big Four accounting firms. That is, IPOs stocks performance in terms of initial first day returns are not influenced by the factor accountants’ reputations

Chief executive officer shareholding and company performance of Malaysian publicly listed companies

This study aims to investigate the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) shareholding and company performance. Specifically, the study investigates the influence of the level of direct and indirect CEO shareholdings on the market growth, profitability and liquidity of companies. A sample comprising 59 companies was obtained from Bursa Malaysia within a five-year period from 2009 to 2013. Results reveal that most CEOs of Malaysian listed companies own company shares either directly or indirectly. The CEOs of listed companies in Malaysia tend to retain controlling stakes by possessing a significant amount of shares in their companies. As a result, these companies demonstrate improved financial performance

The relationship among audit quality, earnings management, and financial performance of Malaysian public listed companies

This study aims to investigate the relationship among audit quality, earnings management, and financial performance among public listed companies in Malaysia. Sample companies were randomly selected from the Industrial Products and Consumer Products industry listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia during the time period of 2008 to 2013. The findings indicate that audit quality does not actually constrain earnings management practices in Industrial Products and Consumer Products companies. This may be due to the difference between the audit environment in Malaysia and that in other developed countries. On the other hand, high audit quality can contribute to better company financial performance, since large-scale audit firms are always perceived to have higher audit quality that can increase the confidence of investors. However, when earnings management is added as a mediating variable, it mediates the relationship between audit quality and financial performance. In other words, the audit quality that is delivered by either Big Four audit firms or non-Big Four audit firms does not actually improve financial performance when earnings manipulation activities are conducted by the management divisions of these firms

Environmental management system and financial performance

The paper aims to explore the relationship between ISO 14001 certification and a company's financial performance to investigate whether the certification to ISO 14001 environmental management standard has benefited the company's financial performance or not. Using Malaysia as the research context, the results of a linear regression analysis show that firms with above-average performance have a greater tendency to pursue ISO 14001 certification. The findings also indicate that there is a significant relationship between ISO14001 certification and a company's financial performance in an emerging economy context. The reason is the adoption of ISO 14001 standard does offers many benefits to companies, such as greater reputation and brand awareness on one hand, and higher sales and investors' confidence on the other. The ISO 14001 certification helps to develop a better system which leads to costs reduction and revenue increase in the long run

Stock return, currency and general elections

The association between political elections and stock market performance for Malaysia market is discussed in this paper. This study aims to investigate the impact of General Elections in Malaysia on stock market indices. To provide additional support of the impact of general elections on stock returns through other channels, currency changes were also included in this study so as to discover the mediation effect of the exchange rate on the relationship between general elections and stock returns. Since the exchange rate does, to some extent, influence stock return, the relationship between exchange rates and stock returns during different stages of a general election cannot be overlooked. The results showed that currency change is negatively related with stock returns in pre-election and post election stages, but it is not significant during the election period. The impact of currency on stock return exists as a mediation effect during election period. In a nutshell, the currency change directly impacts stock return with a negative influence. However, the direct relationship between currency and stock return disappears during the election week. Thus, stock return is affected by currency change indirectly