Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the generic skills that are important for the career success of accounting graduates in Sri Lanka from the perspectives of university educators and employers. Design/methodology/approach – Bui and Porter's (2010) expectation-performance gap framework was modified to match with the context of the current study. Data collected via questionnaire survey was analysed for non-parametric tests: the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Mann-Whitney test, using SPSS version 20, and quantified the expectation-performance gap and its components. Findings – The major finding of this research is that the main cause for the expectation-performance gap, as identified in the analysis of the constraint gap is university educators’ low confidence in teaching the required generic skills for career success of graduates. However, university educators are aware of the employer expectations of graduate accountants in terms of generic skills. Employers indicated that many of the generic skills are not achieved by the accounting graduates. Practical implications – Findings of this study reflect the importance of expanding the accounting curricula by embedding and assessing generic skill development activities. In addition, it is vital to develop the capacities of university educators in terms of teaching and assessing generic skills in accounting degree programmes. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature as one of few studies that investigate the generic skills development of accounting graduates in Asia, particularly in Sri Lanka.

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.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to further extend research (Fan et al., 2012a) examining the attitudes of Chinese certified public accountants with respect to independence aspects of their professional codes of conduct and their influence on ethical judgement. These attitudes are compared with those of Australian public accountants Particular attention is given to refining a pre-existing instrument to determine measurement invariance. Design/methodology/approach – A field survey of 81 Australian and 516 Chinese public accountants was conducted including the distribution of a questionnaire. Statistical analysis included confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance. Findings – An analysis of data established the existence of a stable model for identifying the dimensions of independence of mind and independence in appearance within the context of the codes of conduct relevant to both cultures. Chinese accountants demonstrated significantly less concern about audit-client relationships affecting independence in appearance compared to their Australian counterparts. Interestingly, independence of mind was found to positively influence ethical judgement for both groups taken together, although Chinese accountants were the significant contributors to this model outcome. Research limitations/implications – The relatively small sample of Australian accountants drawn from a limited population base could influence the quality of data analysis. This paper provides a further research direction for re-examining the relationship between Australian public accountants’ attitudes towards their code of professional ethics and their ethical judgements in a significantly larger sample. Practical implications – This paper is particularly useful to the profession in that it will provide members with better insights into how accountants in different cultural settings view audit independence issues and their relationships with audit clients. Second, this study offers a scale for measuring attitudes towards codes of professional ethics for further cross-cultural studies. Originality/value – An exploratory research exercise that indicates that accounting practitioners in divergent cultures demonstrate similar concerns about independence issues, although it is believed that guanxi is likely to explain why Chinese accountants are less concerned with independence of appearance issues. The research also presents a validated instrument for examining attitudes towards codes of ethics.

PurposeUnder its “Members Investment Scheme” strategic initiative, the Malaysian Employees Provident Fund (EPF) permits its members to invest part of their retirement savings in approved external funds. Given there is an increasing number of unit trust funds available in the market, it is not an easy task for members to make this investment choice decision. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived importance of fund selection criteria within the context of retirement savings in Malaysia. In addition, it also seeks to examine whether there is a relationship between religious affiliation and choice of fund.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire‐survey was carried out among 440 individual EPF members.FindingsThe survey results show that the ranking of mutual fund selection criteria differs between Muslim and non‐Muslim members. Past performance was the most important criterion valued by the non‐Muslim EPF members. In line with conforming to religious belief, the fund's commitment to Islamic principles was the most important criterion considered by Muslim EPF members. Both type of religious group members also considered the overall reputation of the fund as important criterion in selecting a mutual fund.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is subject to the normal limitations associated with survey research.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study can help fund management companies to better promote their funds to the right investors.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical evidence regarding mutual fund selection criteria from the perspectives of individual investors.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of improper social pressures on auditors’ judgment in the setting of a high power distance and low individualism society. Auditors’ judgment in this paper is related to the case of auditors’ willingness to sign off on net equipment balance for assets in question. Second, the paper investigates the role of locus of control and the relationship of multidimensional professional commitment on auditors’ judgment under conditions of social pressure.Design/methodology/approachThe experimental method is used in this research. The paper uses a case that was developed by Lord and DeZoort to manipulate the interest variable, social pressures. The paper also uses locus of control and multidimensional professional commitment as the explanatory variables.FindingsThe research finds that social pressures affect auditors’ judgment in a high power distance and low individualism society. Auditors who contend with improper social pressures make judgments that violate their integrity and professionalism. The paper also finds that locus of control and multidimensionality of professional commitment might potentially affect auditors’ judgment.Originality/valueThe research takes into account cultural influence on auditors’ judgment. The paper uses subjects who are in a high power distance and low individualism society. As Public Accountant is a worldwide profession, it is important to understand the impact of cultural dimensions on the profession. Moreover, insights drawn from this paper may be of assistance to regulators and the public accountant profession in considering and developing a mechanism that can mitigate the impact of improper social pressures.

PurposeMalaysia has moved towards global competitiveness. As an important contributor to the Malaysian economy, this change makes manufacturing companies in Malaysia need to ensure that their business operation and management cope with the current changes. To do this they need to reconsider their existing management accounting practices more than ever. Therefore, this study is carried out to determine how changes in management accounting practices in Malaysian manufacturing companies took place in response to a changing business environment and the effect of changes on performance.Design/methodology/approachA structured questionnaire survey is used to collect the data from various manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturer Directory is used as a sampling frame.FindingsThe results show that the level of changes in management accounting practices increased over the five year period from 2003 to 2007. The changes mostly occurred through the introduction of new practices, replacement of existing practices and modification of the way existing practices were used. Findings in this study also reveal that there are no significant differences in management accounting practices among local and foreign companies, or between small and medium, and large companies. This study also support previous research in terms of the positive relationship between changes in management accounting practices and performance.Originality/valueTaken together this research outcome has contributed to the existing management accounting change literature especially in a developing economy setting.

Purpose – Owing to the sharp refocus among Taiwanese companies away from a product‐centric approach towards a customer‐centric approach, many companies have invested heavily in customer relationship management (CRM) systems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether such an investment generates the anticipated benefits.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses survey methods among public companies in Taiwan to examine the degree to which CRM implementation impacts upon customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Findings – Firms which pay more attention to a customer‐centric approach can benefit significantly from the implementation of CRM systems. There were no differences in the degree or focus of implementation attributable to industry differences.Research limitations/implications – The results are subject to the normal limitations associated with survey research, and may not be generalisable outside Taiwan.Practical implications – The paper has significant implications for management decis...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine long‐term income tax liability for Chinese public corporations from 1998 to 2007. It also studies the factors that are associated with Chinese firms' long‐run effective tax rates.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the measurement of long‐run effective tax rate, developed by Dyreng et al., which is measured as the sum of taxes paid over ten years divided by the sum of pretax book income over those same ten years. This paper is an empirical study using the financial report data collected from China stock market financial statement database and corporate ownership structure change from SINA Finance database. The tests include both univariate and multivariate tests.Findings – The paper's findings are: ten‐year effective tax rates are considerably lower than the statutory tax rate; ten‐year effective tax rates vary significantly across industries and geographic areas; profitability, firm size, capital structure, and capital intensity are all associate...

PurposeThe primary purpose of this paper is to investigate and ascertain the effects of integrative motivation on the willingness to participate in boycott activities.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a mail survey to examine the relationships among six constructs in a boycotting issue context, in order to explore Chinese consumers' willingness to boycott against Japanese products or services with the fallout from a Japanese former PM's continuous visits to a controversial war shrine since 2001.FindingsThe findings suggest that there are significant and positive pairwise relationships between boycott participation and three factors (i.e. animosity, efficacy, and prior purchase). High animosity towards Japanese goods and the other two constructs, at the high end of the attitude spectrum, increase the level of willingness to engage in consumer boycott practices.Practical implicationsConsumer boycotts are a worldwide and historic phenomenon in modern society. As the number of protests grows and as local authorities recognize the economic and political impact of such activities, then multinational companies (MNCs) and host countries begin to see the historic and cultural perspective of these events in addition to the conventional consumer behaviour perspective. To enable boycotting to become less harmful, MNC management need to understand what makes local consumers so affronted. The results of the evaluation can potentially be generalized towards a strategic analysis of the boycott model in other hostile market situations.Originality/valueThe findings of this paper offer pivotal implications for decision makers and the management of those Western multinational enterprises who are concerned with increasing their share of the world's largest consumer market. In particular, Japanese MNCs need to pay much more attention to the oppressed and potentially explosive emotion of animosity as the legacy of past conflicts (i.e. war, economic, political, etc.) between Japan and China.

PurposeThe quality of the opinion provided by audit firms is an important determinant of their long‐term survival, but audit quality is difficult to gauge, which makes it particularly sensitive to the behaviour of the individuals who carry on audit work. This paper seeks to identify the incidence of dysfunctional audit behaviours and audit quality reduction behaviours, actions taken by an auditor during engagement that reduce evidence‐gathering effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a survey of 244 auditors working in small/medium and big audit firms in Malaysia.FindingsThe paper identifies key variables leading to dysfunctional audit behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is subject to the normal limitations associated with survey research.Practical implicationsThe paper provides basic empirical evidence of a potentially serious risk of dysfunctional behaviours that may impair audit quality.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical evidence to address the concerns of the Malaysian regulatory authorities regarding audit quality.