Erlane K. Ghani

Digital reporting Formats, Users' Perception, Preferences and Performances

This study examines users� perceptions of three digital reporting formats: PDF, HTML and XBRL. Using public accounting practitioners as participants, this study examines users� perceptions of different reporting formats used in disseminating financial information. This study includes examining the link between users� perceptions and preferred reporting format and whether these perceptions are similar to the quality of their decision in the completion of a specific task. This study follows Davis (1989, p. 320) who defined perceptions into 2: perceived usefulness as �the degree a user believes that a particular aid would enhance his performance� and perceived ease of use as �the degree to which a user believes that using a particular aid would reduce or be free of effort�. The results indicate that users� perceptions of usefulness among the digital reporting formats differ significantly. However, perceptions of ease of use are similar across the three digital reporting formats. Users� perceptions are also found to influence their preferred reporting format. The findings also show that users� perceptions of usefulness are analogous to their decision accuracy for HTML and XBRL formats but not for PDF format. Perceptions of ease of use, however, do not correspond to actual cognitive effort for all reporting formats. The results indicate that if more advanced forms of digital reporting are to be encouraged, there is also the need for users to be made more aware of the benefits to be gained from the different forms of reporting.

Perceptions Towards Accounting Career Among Malaysian Undergraduates

In the late 20th Century and the early part of the 21st Century, the accounting profession has suffered some setback in its image. The recent scandal involving Enron and Arthur Andersen may have an adverse impact on the career choice of accounting students. On the other hand Malaysia needs more accountants to assist the country to achieve developed nation status by year 2020. Therefore, this study is an attempt to determine whether accounting students still prefer to become accountants and to compare the perception of accounting as a career between first semester and final semester accounting undergraduates in Malaysia. One thousand questionnaires were distributed to these two groups of students in all the universities regestered with the Ministry of Education. The valid response rate was 52.7 per cent. The results of this study show a significant difference in career choices between first semester and final semester students. Of the first semester student respondents, 30.3 per cent prefer to be public accountants, whereas only 25.8 per cent of the final semester responsents choose to be public accountants. However, both groups agree that starting salary is an important criterion for choosing accounting as a career and that their university has provided them with adequate knowledge to enable them to join the accounting profession.

Does level of balanced scorecard adoption affect service quality? A study on Malaysian local authorities

This study examines the adoption of balanced scorecard (BSC) in Malaysian local authorities (MLA). Using a questionnaire survey, this study assesses whether high level of BSC adoption in the local authorities in Malaysia would eventuate high service quality. This study uses variables of BSC introduced by Kaplan and Norton (1996) in assessing their influence on the service quality of MLA. The results indicate that this performance measurement does affect service quality. The results show significant differences between organisations that have high level of BSC adoption on their level of service quality and those organisations that have low level of BSC adoption. The results support the findings in the private sector literature that found BSC as an effective performance measurement tool in performance improvement.

Examining the Adoption of Extensible Business Reporting Language among Public Listed Companies in Malaysia

Abstract This study examines the adoption of an accounting information systems language known as Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) among public listed companies in Malaysia. Using 100 top public listed companies as the sample study, this study examines whether these companies have adopted XBRL, consistent with the call made by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) for such adoption. Such call was made to encourage listed public companies to provide their annual reports via XBRL and ultimately improves harmonisation between companies and between countries. The result of this study shows that to this date, no public listed companies have adopted XBRL. Such scenario indicates that there could be issues and challenges that have deter the implementation of XBRL among these companies. The result in this study serves as a starting point for CCM and other Malaysian regulators to consider the issues and challenges as to why such scenario exists and subsequently, provide strategies to encourage these companies to adopt XBRL.

Examining upper echelons managers’ characteristics on financial restatements

This study examines the effect of manager’s characteristics on financial restatements among Malaysian public listed firms. Manager’s characteristics in this study refer to the Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) and Chairman of Audit Committee’s (CAC) characteristics in an organisation. Using content analysis on 750 annual reports of 150 public listed firms in Bursa Malaysia, this study analyses the relationship between CEO and CACs characteristics and financial restatements. The results show that only CEO’s characteristics in terms of educational and functional background significantly affect the financial restatements of the listed firms but the results are positive. The implication of this study is that more thorough recruitment of top managers is needed as their specific characteristics affect the financial restatement decisions. This study provides new data for the regulatory bodies which can be used further in setting rules and regulations in relation to managers for preventing aggressive financial restatements among the public listed firms.