Mazni Abdullah

IFRS Mandatory Disclosures in Malaysia: The Influence of Family Control and the Value (Ir)Relevance of Compliance Levels

Abstract We examine the effect of family control on IFRS mandatory disclosure levels, and the valuation implications of these disclosure levels, for Malaysian companies. We find that family control is related negatively to disclosure and that compliance levels are not value relevant. These findings suggest that agency theory predictions and theories linking common law legal systems to high quality financial reporting require refining in certain national contexts. Where Type 2 agency problems dominate, institutional arrangements intended to enhance financial reporting quality aimed at mitigating Type 1 problems in developed markets may have limited effect in less developed jurisdictions.

Executive compensation in government-linked companies: evidence from Malaysia

The aim of this study was to explore the characteristics of executive pay, equity ownership incentives and pay–performance relationship in government-controlled firms. Data were hand-collected from the annual reports of 179 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. The results show that executive pay is lower in government-linked companies. Positive pay–performance relationship is also not evident for this category of firms, which indicates that their executives were largely guaranteed with certain level of pay irrespective of performance. The level of equity ownership incentives provides the executives in government-controlled firms with very little incentive to produce effort that can improve firm performance. Overall, our findings are consistent with the inefficient pay hypothesis developed in this study.

Desired Attributes of Public Accounting Firms from Accounting Students’ Perceptions: The Case of University of Malaya & International Islamic University of Malaysia

This study is conducted to identify which attributes that are considered important by accounting students of University of Malaya and International Islamic University of Malaysia in the job selection process. The questionnaires which lists the attributes of public accounting firms are distributed to the accounting students and they were asked to rate each attribute on a 5 point Likert scale. The students’ demographic profile and their academic achievements (CGPA) are also analysed to determine their relationships with the preference in the subjects’ job selection. It is found that the students rank opportunity and advancement as the most important attributes followed by office atmosphere/friendliness of staff and firms’ training programme. The findings from this study might assist public accounting firms in developing policies that might attract more quality recruits. They can also be used by institutions of higher learning to give more appropriate career advice to students who are seeking for their first accounting job.

Sources of corporate income tax compliance costs: The case of Malaysian self-assessment system

This study identifies the sources of income tax work for corporate taxpayers under the Self-Assessment System (SAS) environment. Utilizing the researcher administered survey, the sources of tax compliance costs is investigated. The internal-external costs ratio was 37:63, indicating that there is a heavy reliance on external sources. This study therefore concluded that tax compliance activities were mainly handled by external tax professionals. Comparative findings with existing studies provide further contributions to corporate tax knowledge, tax administration and practices.