Impact of governance on profitability, liquidity and gearing of companies

This study investigates the relationship between two governance issues, i.e., ownership and board structure of Malaysian listed firms (between 2010 and 2012) and their performance in terms of profitability, liquidity and gearing. Structural Equation Modeling is applied and the data analysis tool used is Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE). The dependent variables used as proxies for financial performance are; profitability, liquidity and gearing, whilst the independent variables are; ownership retention (OR), board size (BS), percentage of executive directors (ED), percentage of independent directors (ID) and percentage of non-independent non-executive directors (NINED). It is conjectured that there is consistency across all components of ownership and board structure in terms of its relationship with the gearing of companies. With the exception of non-independent non-executive directors, all other components of board structure in this study seem to have an impact on the gearing of companies. In that respect, it can be concluded that a company's ownership structure and board of directors who represent the shareholders have major concerns on the gearing of companies compared to other financial indicators, as the level of gearing of a company has important and long-lasting effects on the profitability and liquidity of companies. This study leads the path for further research on all aspects of a company's gearing

Board composition and corporate social responsibility in an emerging market

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of board composition on corporate social responsibility (CSR) for selected Malaysian companies in Bursa Malaysia

Governance, ownership and performance of government-linked and non-government companies: a comparative study of public listed companies in Malaysia, India and Singapore

This paper aims to examine the extent to which corporate governance and ownership of Government-Linked Corporations (GLCs), and non- Government-Linked Corporations affect the profitability, liquidity and gearing of Malaysian, Indian and Singaporean companies for the period 2010 – 2012. In auxiliary, this research also scrutinizes the degree of similarities and divergences from the above mentioned relationships among the Malaysian, Indian and Singaporean companies. This research used two thousand and forty eight listed companies from Malaysia, two thousand four hundred and sixty listed companies from India and one thousand three hundred and fifty six listed companies in Singapore for the period 2010 to 2012. The results designate differences in the relationship between board structure and ownership structure on the profitability, liquidity and gearing of government-linked and non-government-linked companies in Malaysia, India and Singapore. Malaysia and India share similarities in most relationships but the adverse for Singapore. It is conjectured that governance and its proper execution needs to be seriously considered by policy makers to further improve investor confidence and ensure sustainability

'Cradle to grave' financial literacy programs and money management

The objective of this paper is to develop an integrated conceptual model, termed as the “cradle to grave model” that forms the link between the roles of educational agents, socialisation agents and the media with financial literacy and its eventual impact on money management. The paper also proposes the moderating effects of money attitude between financial literacy and money management for future empirical research. The researchers deliberated on a rigorous literature to conceptualise the model. It is envisioned that the paper will assist individual citizens and the policy makers in understanding the use of educational institutions, society and media to intellectualize financial literacy in achieving money management. The proposed conceptual model by the researchers should not be generalized until further empirical testing. Auxiliary research is desired to empirically validate the concept through systematic investigations and devising of appropriate tools for quantification. The idea is original and makes the foundational contribution for an inaugural stream of financial literacy and money management research