Muslim Har Sani Mohamad

Corporate Governance and Earnings Management in Malaysian Government Linked Companies: The Impact of GLCs’ Transformation Policy

Purpose - As the major shareholder, in 2004, the Malaysian Government embarked on the transformation initiative of the Government Linked Companies (GLCs). One of the main initiatives was to enhance board effectiveness through its Green Book. Soon after, the progress performance review revealed that the GLCs reported improved earnings. Such drastic performance turnarounds triggered the question as to whether earnings quality is at stake. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the tightening of corporate governance mechanisms on earnings management (EM) activities of the GLCs. Design/methodology/approach - The earnings data for two periods (pre- and post-transformation) were collected and tested to determine whether the GLCs experienced any improvement of board monitoring role in curbing EM activities in the post-transformation period. Findings - The main findings show that there is an increase of EM activities in the post-transformation policy. Furthermore, the study also reveals that none of the corporate governance mechanisms has much impact on curbing activities, except for board meetings and leadership structure in the post-transformation period. The board meetings and separation of chairman and chief executive officers in the companies were shown to only have a negative impact on EM activities in the post-transformation period. Although the study has shown a positive preliminary impact from tightening the corporate governance of the GLCs, weak earnings quality might undermine the efforts to sustain such a transformation. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the limited body of literature concerning the impact of corporate governance on earnings management by examining such impact using Government Linked Companies in Malaysia after introducing the transformation programme.

An investigation on PMS attributes in service organisations in Malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the performance measurement system (PMS) literature by concentrating on the service context. Providing a Malaysian perspective on PMS design, the study aims to identify the desirable PMS attributes that are perceived to be important for the service sector.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected by administering a mail questionnaire survey to top‐level management of private service firms operating in Malaysia. The sampling frame was based on information provided by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia, and the Central Bank of Malaysia. An extensive search of directories/portals was undertaken to compile the mailing list of each service sector. Samples were randomly selected from the list using proportionate stratified sampling.Findings – The findings suggest that service firms placed greater emphasis on elements of performance evaluation, benchmarking, timeliness and precise PMS information. Differentiation strategy and intensity ...

Board characteristics and real performance in Malaysian state-owned enterprises (SOEs)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between board characteristics and real performance among state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Malaysia in a longitudinal period following the introduction of transformation policy. Design/methodology/approach The study deviates from prior research in utilising a real performance measure rather than traditional measures of performance. The authors adopt the quantile regression approach to examine the impact of board characteristics on real performance in a comparison using ordinary least squares. Findings The results of quantile regression reveal that the impact of board mechanisms on real performance was not as expected. Specifically, board size and duality had a bearing on real performance. Board independence also is considered as influential factor through the time. However, such effects were not homogenous across different quantiles. The dummy year variable to compare the period pre- and post-transformation policy reveals that the dummy year is not significant, indicating that performance post-transformation is indifferent compared to the pre-transformation policy period. Practical implications It is important for government to reconsider the policies embedded in the transformation policy. This study provides insights on the enhancement of board effectiveness and new developments regarding GLCs. Originality/value This is an early to attempt to measure real performance and its link to board characteristics in SOEs post-transformation policy.