Soheil Kazemian

Earnings Management and Ownership Structure

Abstract Earnings management research has a long and rich history. The agency conflict, incentives, rationalization, opportunity plus having the capability among the managers to manipulate the financial statement lead them to commit fraud. The loopholes in the standards or the deviation from real operational activities promote this situation to prolong. According to the agency theory, separation of ownership and control gives rise to managers incentives to select and apply accounting estimates and techniques that can increase their own wealth. This issue has become more important in recent years as more firms are listed on stock exchanges as public firms. In this review, we emphasize studies that advance the managerial understanding of the earnings management and agency theory. This paper aims at reviewing on some major conducted research from various countries, examining relationships between ownership structure (and its subsets) and earnings management. The results of the paper further extend the literatures in understanding the determination of the influences of ownership structure and earnings management.

Measuring level of market orientation for an Islamic microfinance institution case study of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM)

Design/methodology/approach – This study aims to evaluate the current practices conducted based on in-depth interviews with 16 Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) medium-level managers who were selected randomly, including branch managers and operational officers. All of the interviewees have two characteristics; they face customers directly and influence their decision-making. Findings – Based on the findings of this study, AIM has a high level of customer orientation and inter-function coordination and a middle level in competitor orientation. Originality/value – This paper initially presents the definition of a unique concept, namely, Islamic market orientation, which is defined based on the incorporation of Islamic concepts and market orientation by discussing the characteristics of Islamic market-oriented organisations. Then, an empirical discussion for evaluating market orientation in a microfinance provider is presented. The paper uses the synthesis of different real positions for developing discussions ...

AIM's Accountability in Financial Sustainability: The Role of Market Orientation

 Abstract—The paper aims at providing insights into how three dimensions of market orientation namely; customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-function coordination affect the financial performance of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) as the oldest microfinance institution in South East Asia. Using a cross sectional survey, Partial Least Squares (PLS) as a variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM), the current study examines the AIMs accountability on market orientation in financial sustainability. The results provided empirical evidences that indicate customer orientation and inter-function coordination significantly affect financial performance of AIM. Nevertheless, competitor orientation has a negative and insignificant effect on sustainable financial performance of AIM. The result of the paper enhanced further the literature in understanding the long-term sustainable financial performance-based market orientation.

Sentiment Analysis for Financial News Headlines using Machine Learning Algorithm

The study covers the implementation of machine learning algorithm approaches in sentiment analysis of Malaysia financial news headlines. This study can be used for stakeholders who want to know about the financial news and seek knowledge or data in the financial world. The data are gained from Malaysia online financial news, which are from Business section of New Straits Times. Our study applies Opinion Lexicon-based algorithm and Naive Bayes algorithm as the method to perform sentiment analysis. This study consists of several phases in pre-processing such as extract data, stop word removal, and stemming to clean the dataset and make it as data preparation before performing the sentiment analysis with the selected machine learning algorithms. In the stop word removal, tm package in R is used to clean the dataset while for stemming process, Snowball stemmer is used to set the data to its root word. Sample outcomes of analysis are explained for both algorithms. The conclusion describes the summation of the study and future works.

Monitoring mechanisms and financial distress of public listed companies in Malaysia

This study examines the relationships between financial distress and financial ratio (liquidity, leverage, profitability, firm’s performance, and dividend) among public listed companies, using the Altman Z-Score to determine the financial distress levels among public listed companies in Malaysia. Five-year data has been collected (2010 to 2014) from the annual financial statements and from Data Stream of public listed companies in Malaysia. The findings indicate significant relationships between liquidity, leverage, profitability, firm’s performance, and dividend with the financial distress levels among the companies in question. This study also examines the interaction effects of financial ratios and the year after implementation of the Malaysian Code on Received: November, 2016 1st Revision: February, 2017 Accepted: April, 2017 DOI: 10.14254/20718330.2017/10-1/6 Journal of International Studies S ci en ti fi c P a pe rs

Market orientation within technological companies: Risk based approach

Technology companies are exposed to high risk of failures due to technological advancements globalization of the economy. In order to be in line with the competitive market, technological companies need to adapt to evolving environment and developments. Market orientations can be perceived as a vital element in ensuring the survival of business as well as ensuring successfulness. This study assesses the level of Market Orientation within technology-based companies in Malaysia. Quantitative approach is applied in which data is collected by distributing questionnaires. Findings revealed that the technological companies in Malaysia had a moderately high level of customer orientation, a significant level of inter-function coordination and a moderate level in competitor orientation.

Role of market orientation in sustainable performance: The case of a leading microfinance provider

Purpose Without prejudice to the efficacy of other poverty alleviation mechanisms, micro-financing arguably enjoys relative prominence. However, notwithstanding the remarkable loan repayment rate that the microfinance firms report, they still face the challenge of sustainability. The paper aims to provide insights into how three dimensions of market orientation, namely, customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-function coordination, affect the two aspects of the sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs; management and financial). Design/methodology/approach To achieve this goal, this study focuses on Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), a leading microfinance provider which is also the largest MFI in South East Asia. Data elicited via a survey questionnaire administered on 190 management staff of AIM across Malaysia are subjected to statistical analysis via the partial least square-structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 2.0. Findings The results provide empirical evidences that indicate that management sustainability is significantly influenced by customer orientation and inter-function coordination. However, only customer orientation affects the financial sustainability of AIM. Nevertheless, competitor orientation has non-significant effects on both aspects of sustainability of AIM. Research limitations/implications The result of the paper contributes to the literature in understanding the long-term sustainable financial and social performance-based market orientation. Originality/value Findings are useful for policy makers, management of MFIs, practitioners and academics to enhance microfinance system. Managerial implications, limitation of the study and suggestions for future research are also included.

Structure of Marketing Program for Islamic Microfinance Institutions

This paper attempts to show that how employing a comprehensive marketing program will assist Islamic microfinance institutions (MFIs) in improving their overall performance. Islamic microfinance institutions just like other Islamic organizations should follow Islamic rules (Shariah) in all aspects of business. Then a suitable marketing program for Islamic microfinance institutions should include predefined marketing concepts relying on the Islamic values. Similar to other organizations, the main purpose of the marketing program of the Islamic microfinance institutions is to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Other than this, the efficient marketing program should contain some specifications emphasizing on the nature of the market and institution itself, competitors, developing the marketing plan, and the clients’ preferences. In fact, there are some significant differences between conventional Islamic types of microfinance that need to be highlighted in the marketing plan, like avoiding predetermined rate of interest, emphasizing on sharing risks of investments between both sides of each transaction (not only the borrowers) and so on. The paper highlights the major characteristics of an appropriate marketing program of Islamic microfinance institutions, specifically. In addition, differences between marketing programs of conventional and Islamic type of microfinance institutions are also indicated.

Can Market Orientation Sustain Management of Microfinance Institutions? The Case Study of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM)

This paper aims at providing insights into how the three dimensions of market orientation, namely, customer orientation, competitor orientation, and inter-function coordination, affect the management sustainability of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) as the largest microfinance institution in Southeast Asia. In a cross-sectional survey, Partial Least Squares (PLS) was used to test the hypotheses on a convenience sample of 67 % of AIM’s top management level. In addition, 400 customers and 300 employees from various branches based on their customers’ number were also chosen randomly. The results provided empirical evidences that indicate management sustainability is influenced by customer orientation and inter-function coordination significantly. In contrast, competitor orientation has insignificant effects on management sustainability of AIM. The result of the paper enhanced further the literature in understanding the long-term sustainable social performance-based market orientation.