l Faizal Khairi

FRS36 and post-transition compliance quality among Singapore firms

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contemplate the degree to which Singaporean firms comply with the highly technical disclosure requirements required under International Accounting Standards (IAS) IAS 36 specific to goodwill impairment testing. Design/methodology/approach - The adoption of IAS in Singapore from 1 July 2004 introduced a highly technical standard (financial reporting standards – FRS 36) which has challenged many preparers. While it is generally accepted that accounting compliance may be suboptimal in transition periods as preparers accommodate change, it is assumed compliance quality improves with the passage of time. This study examines compliance of the largest 168 Singaporean goodwill-intensive firms over a three year period, 2005-2007, to interrogate compliance quality post-transition. Findings - The paper reports distinctly poor compliance systemically over the three years across many facets of goodwill impairment testing disclosures including cash-generating unit (CGU) definition and goodwill allocation, and key input variables used in estimating CGU recoverable amounts. Practical implications - The results raise questions about the quality of accounting information among goodwill-intensive firms in Singapore and the robustness of regulatory oversight institutions operating within Singapore. Originality/value - The paper illustrates a novel approach to examining the issue of accounting quality under IFRS by examining compliance quality through large sample time-series analysis focusing on note-form disclosures.

Investigating the Early Implementation of MFRS 136 Disclosure among Top 50 Firms in Malaysia

The highly prescriptive and technical provisions of MFRS 136 – Impairment of Assets represent a very considerable variation from past practices. This in turn raises questions about the span to which Malaysian businesses and their auditors have fared during the method of transition to a convoluted new reporting regime. Malaysia through Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) made the requirements of the MFRS 136 - Impairment of Assets mandatory progressively since 1 January 2006 for some or all listed firms in Malaysia. Since then, Malaysian companies are required to comply with the standard. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the compliance level of approved companies on the Bursa Malaysia main market towards the disclosure requirement of MFRS 136 - Impairment of Assets. This study also aims to identifying some factors associated with the level of compliance. The unweighted index was established by constructing the index checklist. The checklist was based on the requirement of disclosure of MFRS 136 (amended in 2009) and the annual reports of 50 sampled firms from 2010 to 2012 were examined. Then, we establish dependent variables and construct econometrical model to test the hypothesis in the research using Estimated Generalized Least Squares (EGLS) weights regression using cross-section weights. The result shows that 28 firms (56%), 27 firms (54%) and 24 firms (48%) out of 50 firms in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively failed to comply with requirement of FRS 136 pertaining to goodwill impairment. This study suggests that the performance of the top 50 listed companies should improve before Malaysian practice can attain a truly international standard. This study also found that firm size, profitability and auditor type are associated with the extent of compliance with MFRS 136. However, only firm size and profitability were positively associated with the level of compliance while auditor type were negatively associated with the level of compliance. This indicates that bigger and more profitable firms were more motivated to exhibit greater transparency of MFRS 136.

Share Waqf (Corporate Waqf) as an Alternative Financial Instrument in Improving the Communities and Nation Welfare

The institution of Waqf has played a significant role of providing opportunities in sharing the government’s fiscal needs and improving the communities and nation welfare throughout Islamic history. Waqf have a potential to became one of the important devices regarding the socioeconomics realms in Muslim societies which will benefit the communities in term of education, health care, national security, transportation facilities, basic infrastructure, foods and job opportunities. The main objective of the current study is to explore the conceptual framework in improving the share waqf and identifies the uniqueness of the share waqf in Malaysia. In addition this study is to investigate the contribution of this type of share towards communities and nation welfare. The methodology of this study is a qualitative research based on the document analysis of relevant references. The interesting finding of this study indicates that the proper implementation of share waqf is very useful in developing the economic well-being of the communities and nation.

Efficiency performance of optical wavelength conversion using FBGS based-on degenerate FWM in Raman Ring Laser

This paper presents wavelength conversion based-on degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) assisted by Raman ring laser (RRL) in the distance of 3 km of highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). By using a single external lightsource which functioning as a signal source, the effect of wavelength conversion at different FBG in RRL can be seen.