Suhaiza Ismail

Critical success factors of public private partnership (PPP) implementation in Malaysia

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the importance of the success factors as perceived by the overall respondents. Also, the study intends to identify the differences concerning the importance of the success factors between the public and private sectors.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was used to elicit the perceptions of public and private sectors on the key success factors of a PPP project in Malaysia. In total, 179 usable responses were obtained and analysed using SPSS to rank the importance of the success factors and to examine the differences in the perceptions between the government and the private sector.Findings – The overall results show that “good governance”, “commitment of the public and private sectors”, “favourable legal framework”, “sound economic policy” and “availability of finance market” are the top five success factors of PPP implementation in Malaysia. Although the rankings of many factors were different between the public and private sectors, there were no sign...

Constraints in implementing Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study two objectives. First, it intends to scrutinize the challenges in implementing Public Private Partnership (PPP) by examining the factors that hinder the successful adoption of PPP in Malaysia. Second, it aims to investigate the differences in the perceptions of the government and the private sector pertaining to the hindrance factors. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was used to elicit the perceptions of the public and private sectors concerning the constraints of PPP implementation in Malaysia. A total of 122 usable responses were obtained, which were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. The mean score and mean score ranking were used to examine the importance of the hindrance factors based on the overall responses as well as on the respective responses of the public and the private sectors. An independent sample t-test was used to examine the differences in the perceptions between the two sectors. Findings – ...

Rationales for public private partnership (PPP) implementation in Malaysia

Purpose – This paper aims to, first, examine the rationale for implementation of public private partnerships (PPP) in Malaysia. Second, it investigates the differences among perceptions of the public and private sectors, in relation to the rationales for implementing PPP in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey captured the perceptions of the public and private sectors concerning the rationales for PPP implementation in Malaysia. Of 250 questionnaires distributed, 122 usable responses were obtained and analysed using SPSS to rank the importance of the rationales and to examine differences in perceptions between the government and private sectors. Findings – Results show that “to enhance private sector involvement in economic development” is the only rationale that was rated as most important by all respondents. While other rationales were perceived as important, “to reduce the role of the Government in providing public services and facilities” was regarded as the least important rationale by both parties. The results also reveal significant differences between public and private perceptions for the least important rationales. Originality/value – This paper offers empirical evidence on the concept and the rationales for implementing PPP in Malaysia, and also provides evidence on the differences in the perceptions of the public and private sectors in relation to these rationales.

Ethics of Future Accounting Professionals: Evidence from Malaysia

A strong ethical sense needs to be imbued in potential entrants to the accountancy profession. This paper explores the ethical attitudes of the final year accounting students in the International Islamic University Malaysia. There were 210 students who responded to the self‐administered questionnaire survey. Of these respondents, 38 per cent would opt to become whistleblowers. About 3 per cent would accept bribes. Once an element of risk of being caught was introduced, the percentage opting for whistleblowing increased by 6 per cent. However, none chose the bribe option. These responses indicate that only a small porportion of students will depend on punishment and penalty in order to behave ethically. A larger proportion of male students as compared to female tend to behave unethically. The study indicates that the majority of respondents would prefer not to indulge in unethical behavior. The primary contribution of this paper is that it offers insight on Malaysian accountancy students’ ethical attitudes.

Drivers of value for money public private partnership projects in Malaysia

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper are twofold. First, it aims to investigate the factors that enhance the VFM achieved from PPP projects in Malaysia. Second, it aims to examine the differences in the perceptions of public and private sectors pertaining to the VFM factors of PPP implementation in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach - – A questionnaire survey was used to elicit the perceptions of the public and private sectors concerning the VFM drivers for PPP projects in Malaysia; 122 usable responses were obtained and analysed using SPSS to rank the importance of the factors and to examine the differences in the perceptions between the government and private sectors. Findings - – The results reveal that two factors are perceived as “most important” to enhance the achievement of VFM for PPP implementation in Malaysia – “private sector technical innovation” and “competitive tender”. In terms of the differences in the perceptions of the public and private sectors concerning the level of importance of the VFM drivers, the results reveal that there are significant differences for half of the VFM factors. Originality/value - – The exclusive contribution of this paper is that it highlights not only the factors that enhancing the VFM achievement for PPP projects in Malaysia, but also offers evidence concerning the differences in the perceptions of public and private sectors pertaining to the importance of the VFM factors.

Financial Management Accountability Index (FMAI) in the Malaysian public sector: a way forward

The National Audit Department (NAD) of Malaysia has introduced the Financial Management Accountability Index (FMAI) within the framework of the audit rating system. This study shares the Malaysian experience in using FMAI as an accountability medium, evaluates the FMAI scores obtained by agencies, and proposes measures to enhance the usefulness of FMAI. The study uses secondary data as provided on the NAD website. Descriptive analyses were conducted in evaluating the rating scores across agencies. It was found that majority of the agencies have a ‘good’ financial management system, with Federal agencies performing better than their counterparts at the State level. It was also found that the overall rating system and FMAI suffer from lack of proper disclosure, consequently reducing their worthiness. There are still areas of improvement that need to be addressed by the NAD to enhance the value of the overall audit rating system. Points for practitioners The FMAI, which has been developed and used in Malaysia, is an important initiative that can be emulated by public managers in other governments, either in its current form or with modifications. It is particularly useful for benchmarking purposes. In the context of Malaysia, this research provides important insights for public policy-makers on how the usefulness of the audit rating system can be further increased.

Effect of ethical ideologies on ethical judgment of future accountants: Malaysian evidence

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of ethical ideologies on ethical judgments of future Malaysian accountants in general situations and based on the legality of the situations. The examination covers the relationships of both the specific ethical dimension (i.e. idealism and relativism) and the specific categories of ideology (i.e. absolutist and subjectivist) on ethical judgments. Design/methodology/approach - – Using a questionnaire survey that comprises Ethical Position Questionnaire and ethical dilemma vignettes, 396 usable responses were received. In achieving the objectives, multivariate analysis of variance, correlations and univariate analysis of variance were performed. Findings - – The study discovered a significant impact of ethical ideology on judgments regardless of the legality of the cases. In addition, the study found a significant positive and negative impact of idealism and relativism, respectively, on ethical judgment. Moreover, the study reported that absolutists are stricter whilst situationists are more lenient in making ethical judgments compared to other ideologies. Originality/value - – The present study investigated the effect of ethical ideologies on ethical judgment, in general, as well as the effect on ethical judgment based on the legality of the ethical dilemma. This study also considered the effect of the two dimensions of ethical ideology – idealism and relativism – on ethical judgment and captured the four categories of ideology based on the taxonomy of ethical ideologies.

Driving forces for implementation of public private partnerships (PPP) in Malaysia and a comparison with the United Kingdom

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to investigate the factors forcing the implementation of public private partnerships (PPP) in Malaysia. Second, the study intends to compare the driving forces for PPP implementation in Malaysia to the UK. Design/methodology/approach - – Using a questionnaire survey, 122 responses were received from respondents in Malaysia and the responses were analysed using descriptive analysis, which included the mean and mean score ranking. In comparing to the driving factors in the UK, evidence from prior studies that adopted a similar questionnaire instrument was obtained and analysed. Findings - – The results show that the top three driving forces for PPP implementation in Malaysia are “economic development pressure of demanding more facilities”, “private incentive” and “shortage of government funding”. Although comparison of the results between the two countries found that both countries regarded all the factors, to some extent, as important, different countries have a different priority for each of the driving forces. The findings imply that the unique nature of PPP in different countries is reflected in the different motivation factors of each country to implement PPP. Originality/value - – The present study not only offers insights on the key driving forces for PPP implementation in Malaysia but also useful information on the comparison of motivation factors to the pioneer of PPP implementation (i.e. the UK).

Determinants of dividend policy of public listed companies in Malaysia

The present study aims to examine factors affecting dividend policy of public listed firm in Malaysia.In this study that are pooled effect model, fixed effect model and random effect were analysed. The study discovered that the robust of fixed effect model is the best model to explain the objective of this study

Cheating behaviour among accounting students: some Malaysian evidence

Purpose - This study aims to examine the cheating behaviour among accounting students in terms of the extent of neutralization of cheating and the effectiveness of deterrents to cheating of cheaters and non-cheaters. It also aims to examine the differences in the cheating behaviour between males and females of cheaters and non-cheaters groups. Design/methodology/approach - Using a questionnaire survey on academic dishonesty developed by Haines Findings - The results on the extent of cheating neutralization revealed that cheaters have significantly greater excuses to cheat than the non-cheaters. In addition, males have greater neutralization for cheating than females. In terms of the effectiveness of the deterrent to cheating measures, there were significant differences between cheaters and non-cheaters on the effectiveness of two deterrents to cheating measures. The comparison between males and females reveals significant differences between the two genders for cheating neutralization as well as the three cheating deterrents for both cheaters and non-cheaters groups. Originality/value - The present study does not only investigate the differences in the cheating behaviour between cheaters and non-cheaters in terms of neutralization and deterrents to cheating but also provides evidence on the cheating attitude based on gender.