Audit quality has been addressed and is being discussed globally, throughout the years. The Enron Corporation and WorldCom cases have affected the reputation of the audit profession. The credibility of auditors also has become more questionable as the auditors' function in identifying mistakes and fraud is being debated by the public. However, the issue of audit quality has only focused on big firms only. There is shortage of studies that focussed on audit quality in small and medium audit firms. In line with this issue, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between top management support, auditor’s experience and auditor’s accountability on audit quality amongst small-medium audit firms in Malaysia. By employing the Attribution Theory, the study utilised purposive sampling. The data used in this study was primary data obtained through questionnaires from external auditors in small and medium sized audit firms around Klang Valley. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed and the number of usable questionnaires was 81. Findings indicate that auditor’s experience and auditor’s accountability have a significant effect on audit quality. This research thus contributes to standard setters, regulators, policymakers and other audit firms by providing evidence with regard to the determinants of audit quality judgment in Malaysian small and medium audit firms. Keywords: audit quality, small and medium audit firms, audit judgments, accountability, audit experience

In this study, we empirically examined the following three relationships through quantitative analysis of web-based survey data collected from managers of Japanese firms. First, we examined the relationship between managers’ perceptions of controllability and budget use. Second, we examined the relationship between budget use and altruistic behavior. Third, based on managers’ perceptions of controllability, we examined the relationship between altruistic behavior and managerial performance. Structural equation modeling revealed that not only did perception of low controllability by managers promoted the use of budgeting, it also promoted organizational citizenship behavior through increased trust in superiors, which subsequently enhanced managerial performance. Keywords: managerial perception, controllability principle, altruistic behavior, organizational citizenship behavior, trust, managerial performance

Money laundering has become a vast global concern, and the rates are growing. Hence, there is a need for a good preventive and monitoring mechanism that monitors suspicious transactions at the source. In Maldives, a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was introduced to gather, analyse, and provide financial intelligence report to law enforcement agencies to proceed with an investigation. The FIU plays a vital role in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Regime in successfully combat money laundering activities. Since the AML Regime in Maldives was established in 2014, there is a need to conduct a study to investigate the effectiveness of the FIU in combating money laundering in the Maldives. Based on questionnaires collected from 122 enforcement officers, findings show that reporting mechanisms significantly influence the effectiveness of the FIU. The legal framework and the role of the officer did not significantly influence the effectiveness of FIU. It shows that the competency of LEAs in combating money laundering in the Maldives is still low. Therefore, the government needs to enhance the awareness and competencies of enforcement officers in combating money laundering. Future research may conduct a comparative study to understand further the best reporting mechanism that can help enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies. Keywords: financial intelligence unit, money laundering, reporting mechanism

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an important source of external financing and an important factor for the economic development of a country. FDI is highly important especially for developing countries as it brings modern technologies and management skills in addition to narrowing the financial gaps. In this sense the knowledge of what determines FDI will have a tremendous significance. With the objective of empirically determining the long-run and short-run relationships between financial development, trade openness and FDI inflows in Ethiopia this study employed the ARDL model. The findings indicated that private sector credit, M2 and trade openness have a positive and significant influence on FDI inflows in the long-run while M2, and trade openness has a positive and significant influence on FDI in the short-run too. Current period private sector credit had no impact on FDI while the one period lag of it has a positive significant effect on FDI. Likewise, the causality test results disclose the presence of bi-directional causal relationships between private sector credit and FDI, and between M2 and trade openness. Furthermore, the findings indicate a one direction Granger cause from M2 to FDI. Policy makers are advised to consider trade openness and financial development measures in their quest for more FDI inflow. Keywords: FDI, trade openness, financial development, ARDL, Ethiopia

Changes in the business environment requires that a company adopts a more adaptive strategy. A business strategy is not just about planning, but it needs to be supported with meaningful information. Management accounting complements a business strategy by providing crucial information, not just limited to cost efficiency, but customer satisfaction and quality management. However, the adoption of management accounting practices (MAPs) is believed to be influenced by strategy. Using the Miles and Snow (1978) business strategy typology model, this study examined the influence of business strategy on the adoption of MAPs, focusing on how the different types of business strategies used in organizations may influence the adoption of MAPs. Data was collected from manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The result showed that most Malaysian manufacturing companies utilized three major classifications of strategies, i.e., defender, prospector, analyzer, and only a few were classified as reactors. The result showed that the adoption level of both traditional and advanced MAPs is also high. Findings from this study indicated an influence of the defender and analyzer types towards adopting traditional MAPs, whereas the prospector type had influenced the adoption of advanced MAPs. Keywords: management accounting practices, business strategy, defender, prospector, analyzer, reactor

This study presents the effect of political and social globalisation on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow in developing countries. The eminence of decomposed globalisation element in the FDI area is argued here. New insights into empirical evidence are offered by dropping economic globalisation as one of the decomposed components. A panel data of 42 developing countries from 1984 until 2016 was used by applying the CSARDL approach. The study is also on the impact of political and social globalisation in developing countries by splitting them into two income stratification: Upper Middle-income Countries and Lower Middle-Income Countries by incorporating financial development as a moderating variable. It documents that political globalisation postulates a U-shaped relationship after addressing the Cross-Sectional Dependence (CD) problem, while social globalisation reverses the U-shaped relationship. It was found that political globalisation and social globalisation are conditional to the level of income rather than the overall developing countries’ stream. Besides, the prominent role of financial development in promoting FDI inflow, especially to income level, was observed. We suggest that developing countries should increase the capacity to absorb political and social globalisation in promoting FDI. Keywords: FDI inflow, globalisation, political globalisation, social globalisation, financial development, CS-ARDL

The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the ability of interactional fairness as a mediator in the relationship between merit-based pay management (such as communication and performance assessment) and organizational commitment. A cross-sectional technique was used to collect 450 useable data of workers from a government-linked company (GLC), who had served more than five years in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. The outcomes of the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) path model analysis indicated three important findings. First, communication and performance assessment was significantly correlated with interactional fairness. Second, interactional fairness was significantly correlated with organizational commitment. Third, communication, performance assessment and interactional fairness were significantly correlated with organizational commitment. Statistically, the findings of this study verified that the relationship between communication and performance assessment with organizational commitment is indirectly influenced by interactional fairness. These findings would benefit researchers and organizational management to recognize the importance of merit-based pay management (communication and performance assessment) to nurture employees’ positive feelings, behaviors, and attitudes in an organization. An effective pay management system would likely improve employees’ morale and enhance organizational competitiveness in facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords: communication, interactional fairness, merit-based pay management, organizational commitment, performance assessment

This paper analyses the level of compliance of financial disclosure with accounting standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and its determinants in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Islamic banks. Based on 40 Islamic banks in seven MENA countries over the period 2010-2016, the authors used a disclosure index to measure the compliance level and the effect of governance characteristics and the Sharia Board on the extent of compliance with the AAOIFI accounting standards. Results show a high level of compliance (67%). Using the Feasible General Least Square Regression, we found that the presence of women on the board of directors, the reputation of the Sharia Board, and the cross membership of Sharia Board members are key determinants of compliance. While independence of board of directors is significantly associated to reduced financial disclosure. The research contributes to the literature on accounting and the Islamic banking sector. These findings will be useful for regulatory authorities to better- understand the accounting disclosure practices of Islamic banks. Although findings are encouraging, the sample is limited only to banks. Future researches could deal with a larger sample and review other disclosure items to ensure compliance with the AAOIFI standards. Few empirical studies have explored the determinants of compliance with the AAOIFI standards for Islamic banks in MENA countries. Therefore, this work complements and enriches the research in the field in the MENA region. Keywords: financial disclosure, AAOIFI compliance, Islamic banks, governance characteristics, Sharia board

Value Added Taxes increases the cost of living and affect the ability of loan repayments indirectly. The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Malaysia in 2014 had garnered significant attention on its potential negative effects on the property industry. Coincidentally, there is a rise of non-performing non-housing property loans (NPNHLs) consisting of industrial and commercial property loans as GST was introduced and was in effect. The NPNHLs which consists of mainly industrial and commercial property loans faced a steep increase for the first time in 2014, after a long and consistent decline since 2007. From the inception stage of the GST to its effective implementation date, the Malaysian NPNHLs responded with a unique pattern that offers an opportunity for research. Hence, this study aimed to investigate and measure the intervention spill-over effects of GST upon the Malaysian NPNHLs. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design of interruptive time series regression analysis, it was found that there is a close and significant relationship between the implementation of GST and the rise of NPNHLs in Malaysia. The pre and post intervention of the GST regime was found to be in sync with the rise of non-performing non-housing property loans in Malaysia. Keywords: value added tax, goods and services tax, interruptive time series regression, Malaysia