Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman

Management accounting practices and the turnaround process

Purpose - The paper aims to provide a longitudinal view of successful turnaround phases and of how management accounting practices played a significant role in improving performance in one company. Design/methodology/approach - The company provided internal documents to cover the period of the study and permitted access to key individuals who were able to elaborate and clarify the motives which underpinned the numbers reported and the strategies employed. Findings - The success of the corporate turnaround appeared to be attributable to an effective leadership style that was able to motivate and support the employees whilst making strategic changes to the organizations capital, financial well-being and operations. Originality/value - Recognition of the key factors in the turnaround process has implications for the implementation of corporate recovery strategies elsewhere.

Style of information usage and use of accounting information: a Malaysian study

Purpose - Since the 1990s, there has been a growing interest in style of information usage. However, most studies on style of information usage are conducted in developed countries. There is limited research on style of information usage in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the existing literature by examining relationships between style of information usage and use of financial and non-financial information in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach - The authors adopted a survey method, for which a written questionnaire was prepared and mailed out to companies in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Terengganu and Pulau Pinang. Findings - Findings of the study show that diagnostic style of information usage is positively associated with use of financial information, while interactive style of information usage is positively associated with use of non-financial information. Further analysis on types of non-financial information used by managers who adopt interactive style of information usage reveals that customer-related non-financial information such as quality, customer satisfaction and flexibility play a more important role in their decision-making processes. Originality/value - The paper provides insights into relationships between style of information usage on and use of accounting information in developing countries. Findings of the study can be applied to assist management accountants in meeting managers’ information requirements.

Assessment of critical success factors for accounting graduates employability

The accounting profession has now becoming more demanding as businesses move towards satisfying challenging environment and needs by the society. The modern professional accountant needs both hard and soft skills and the future accountants are said to need training in ethics and objectivity. Thus, educational systems will require to constantly be updated in order to meet such demand. Questionnaires were sent to potential employer of public and private sectors to evaluate their assessment on the critical factors in employing accounting graduates. The respond provides evidence for enhancement in the accounting education and provides necessary training for the future accountants who will face with uncertainties in their role as a guardian of integrity and compliance.

Management Accounting Best Practices Award for Improving Corruption in Public Sector Agencies

Abstract Management accounting best practices are important on critical success factors in ensuring organizational survival and competitiveness, provide relevant financial and non-financial information at different levels to make informed decisions. Private sector organizations continue to apply more sophisticated management accounting technologies to support their complex structures and activities. Such practices have been regarded as mediums for enabling organizations to create long-term value emerging from excellent organizational performance. Numerous claims alleging that management accounting had somewhat lost its relevance as it failed to provide adequate support to managers who faced intense challenges within competitive worlds economy which was characterized by globalization and rapid technological advancement. In essence, management accounting can be considered as “governance at source” that supports organizations through the provision of accounting information. This proposal aims to develop measures for Management Accounting Best Practices Award for Public Sector Organizations in improving Malaysias CPI. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in data collections. Whilst showcasing management accounting excellence has been an important agenda, we believe that management accounting is also needed by public sector organizations, especially with the rising concerns on “poor” public service deliveries and “unfavorable” rating of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI). CPI is used to measure the transparency, accountability, and integrity, in view of these, the introduction of the Management Accounting Award for Public Sector Organizations is a must. This proposal also involves modifying existing measures used by National Award for Management Accounting (NAfMA) Best Practices for Private Sector Organizations on 2004, to stimulate effective and efficient decision making processes to suit public sector organizations’ contexts. A proposed new framework should reflect the following as preliminary measures: leadership, management accounting information, resource management, community and customer focus, stakeholder partnership management, performance management and service delivery outcomes. The management accounting measures used to propose Award should promote mainly on transparency, accountability, and integrity among Public Sector Organizations.

Econometric analysis on the impact of macroeconomic variables toward financial performance: A case of Malaysian public listed logistics companies

The primary concern of this study is to analyse the impact against macroeconomic variables upon the financial performance, particularly in the case of public listed logistics companies in Malaysia. This study incorporated five macroeconomic variables and four proxies of financial performance. The macroeconomic variables selected are gross domestic product (GDP), total trade (XM), foreign direct investment (FDI), inflation rate (INF), and interest rate (INT). This study is extended to the usage of ratio analysis to predict financial performance in relation to the changes upon macroeconomic variables. As such, this study selected four (4) ratios as proxies to financial performance, which is Operating Profit Margin (OPM), Net Profit Margin (NPM), Return on Asset (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE). The findings of this study may appear non-controversial to some, but it resulted in the following important consensus; (1) GDP is found to be highly impacting NPM and least of ROA, (2) XM has high positive impact on OPM...

Notice of Retraction The importance of management accounting information in the transformation process of a government-linked company

This qualitative study seeks to understand the role of transformational leadership in the process of transforming a GLC and also, to examine the role of MAI in the transforming process, and how its top management team uses MAI to improve its organizational performance Interviews conducted with its members reveal how top management plays a pivotal role in bringing about this transformation. A greater and better use of MAI and the implementation of different management accounting techniques result in improved performance.

Strategy maps as a communication tool in Balanced Scorecard implementation: Study of a Malaysian utility company

This paper presents an exploratory and qualitative analysis of the Balanced Scorecard [BSC] implementation of a utility company in Malaysia. The use of strategy map as proposed under the BSC methodology in communicating companys strategic vision and mission from the corporate to the individual managerial level is explored. Although the BSC has been developed for almost 20 years, BSC implementation is still an issue. One of the underexplored issues is communication. It is critical for successful BSC implementation, but very little evidence is observed in the literature. Using qualitative research approach, this paper highlights a company experience in using the BSC strategy maps to facilitate strategy communication to managers.