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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of audit committee (AC) attributes on the performance of finance companies in Malaysia in both period before and after the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) was issued in order to determine which of the AC attributes enhances performance of finance companies in Malaysia.

The population of the study comprises firms listed under finance sector of the main market of Bursa Malaysia. The number of firms listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia as at the time of data collection (2012) was 822, out of which 37 were finance firms. Since the number of finance companies listed on the main market was only 37, all companies were used as sample for this study. This comprises companies involved in commercial, investment and Islamic banking, insurance, Takaful and other finance-related services. The sample for the period prior to MCCG varies over the period of observation. The number of finance companies in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 was 36, 40, 44, 47 and 54, respectively. The sample comprises companies in commercial banking, investment banking, Islamic banking, insurance, Takaful and other finance-related services. The sample comprises firms listed on the main board of Kuala Lumpur stock exchange as it was called before the name was changed to Bursa Malaysia. The companies listed under the Ace market are not included due to their small number and because they are subject to different listing requirements. The list of the finance companies for the period 2007-2011 is obtained from the web site of Bursa Malaysia while for the period 1992-1996, the list is obtained from Bursa Malaysia knowledge centre. The observation period for the study covers financial period from 2007 to 2011 which represents post MCCG period while period from 1992 to 1996 represents the period before MCCG.

The findings suggests a significant positive relationship between independent AC members and profitability while dual membership of directors on audit and nomination committee is significant and negatively related with profitability. The result supports agency theory which suggests that independent directors provide effective monitoring of the management thereby enhancing profitability and reducing possibility for opportunistic behavior by the management and ultimately enhancing performance. In addition, the result indicates that there was significant improvement in corporate governance in finance companies after the MCCG was issued compared to the period before it was issued.

The study focussed only on finance companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. The attributes examined include independence, expertise, experience, executive membership and interlock of directors, future studies could examine other attributes such as internal process of the committee and personal characteristics of the directors. Furthermore, the study used secondary data future studies could use primary data or a combination of primary and secondary data. The study only examined the period before MCCG and after the code was issued, future study could examine the impact of the first and second revision and compare it with period after the first and second revision.

The findings contribute to the literature and the understanding of the influence of AC attributes such as independence and experience of the directors on the committee by showing an association between director independence, expertise, experience and improved performance. Management and board of companies may use the findings to make appropriate choices about AC attributes and governance mechanisms to improve performance particularly with regards to independence, expertise, experience and interlock of the directors.

The study has provided policy makers with a better understanding of the various features a AC should have which could be incorporated in future policy formulation in order to safeguard investments of shareholders, protect the interest of various stakeholders and enhance the flow of capital and foreign direct investment into finance companies and the economy in general. Comparison of the result between the pre MCCG and post MCCG period shows an improvement in corporate governance in finance companies after the MCCG was issued. This implies that the initial issue of MCCG impacted positively on the governance of the finance companies.

To best of the authors knowledge the study is the first to examine the attributes of AC in finance sector as a whole and to examine the impact in the period before and after the MCCG was issued.

This paper aims to examine the existence of related party transactions (RPTs) in failed financial companies in New Zealand when firms have interlocking directors on the board. We also examine the role of auditors in the review of RPTs. We anticipate that inter-company director relationships promote RPTs, while reputable large auditors (i.e. Big4) restrict the practice.

This study uses multivariate analysis to examine the determinants of RPTs. We use an unique, hand-collected database of New Zealand finance companies all of which collapsed during the years 2006-2011.

Using a sample of 65 firms (including 38 failed finance firms) and 219 firm-year observations, we found that almost half of the failed finance firms were engaged in RPTs. For the failed firms, those that were engaged in RPTs were mostly represented by interlocking directors and were audited by non-Big4 auditors, implying lower monitoring quality may facilitate RPTs. Using a sub-sample, we also found evidence that firms engaged in RPTs were later convicted of questionable accounting and disclosure practices.

This research is beneficial to regulators and audit professionals in understanding the potential for adverse outcomes associated with interlocking directors and undisclosed RPTs. While interlocking directors could enrich the external connections of a firm which might facilitate capital resourcing, this study suggests regulators might encourage firms to disclose RPTs when the firm has higher interlocked directors.

This study is the first to examine the association between RPTs and interlocking directors using a sample of failed finance companies. RPTs and lack of disclosure were widely attributed with being the determinants of corporate failure in the finance sector. However, failed finance firms remain widely under-researched because of a lack of available data. This study circumvent this limitation by using print media and business news portals to collate information on RPTs and interlocking directors. While prior research indicates that weak corporate governance leads to poor accounting practice, using the interlocking board as a proxy for weak corporate governance, this study is the first to substantiate the adverse effect of interlocking boards and undisclosed RPTs with corporate failure.

This chapter examines the determinants of managerial incentives at the time of an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. We identify a trade-off relation between board monitoring and incentives that is specific to CEOs. We also investigate the role of stock option grants and share transactions at the IPO. We find that the IPO may be used as a wealth diversification opportunity. We report that undiversified managers with large pre-IPO shareholdings receive smaller stock options grants and sell more shares in the IPO than more diversified managers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the intricate ways in which accounting is implicated in the unfolding of strategizing in a pluralistic setting. The authors treat strategizing as a practical coping mechanism which begins in response to a problem and unfolds over time into an episode. This approach enables the authors to explore strategizing pathways and the ways they can mobilise accounting to advance from practical coping to explicit strategic intent.

The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with Clinical Directors, Business Managers and Finance personnel at three NHS hospitals. Documents were also collected, such as business cases and financial reports. The authors employed theories on strategizing agency, episodes and practical coping to select examples of strategizing and indicate how strategizing is constructed and performed. The authors present the results of this qualitative analysis in three strategizing narratives.

The analysis highlights how Clinical Directors’ strategizing with accounting, in response to their financial problems, can take on contesting, conforming and circumventing modes. As the strategizing pathway unfolds, accounting acts as an obligatory passage point through which Clinical Directors pursue their strategic intent. Along each pathway the authors identify, first, where practical coping takes on a clear strategic intent and, second, whether this emergent strategy proves efficacious.

The authors contribute to the nascent body of accounting and strategizing studies through seeing strategizing with accounting, not as the formulation of explicit organisational strategy as “done” in board rooms and strategy meetings, but as an impromptu response to a critical financial problem within a localised organisational setting. In response to a problem, actors may realise their immanent strategizing through their engagement with accounting practices.

Using a case study of Zimbabwe’s central government, this study aims to empirically examine the extent to which senior management was supportive of the records management function as well as the reasons why such levels of support subsisted.

This mixed methods research made use of the explanatory sequential research design where quantitative responses from records and information supervisors were either confirmed or disconfirmed by open-ended interview responses from finance and administration directors. Fifteen records and information supervisors and eight finance and administration directors participated in the study. Document reviews and personal observation were also used in soliciting data.

The study revealed that top management was not very supportive of the records management function as a result of lack of knowledge about records management and because of negative perceptions and attitudes harboured by some senior managers towards the functional area. The study also revealed that organisational structural factors also played a part as the records and information management section was poorly represented by finance and administration directors at the top, who by virtue of their training had little knowledge about and interest in records management.

The study raises the importance of senior management in records management processes, projects and programmes. It highlights that without senior management support, records management initiatives are bound to fail. Thus, the study is important as it raises the need to incorporate senior management as part of organisations’ tactical and operational strategy.

Sees the objective of teaching financial management to be to help managers and potential managers to make sensible investment and financing decisions. Acknowledges that financial theory teaches that investment and financing decisions should be based on cash flow and risk. Provides information on payback period; return on capital employed, earnings per share effect, working capital, profit planning, standard costing, financial statement planning and ratio analysis. Seeks to combine the practical rules of thumb of the traditionalists with the ideas of the financial theorists to form a balanced approach to practical financial management for MBA students, financial managers and undergraduates.

Competitive pressures in the audit market have led to aggressive fee renegotiation and tendering by companies. This paper reviews microeconomic tender theory and finds it to be of limited value in the audit context. Content analysis of semi‐structured interviews conducted with the finance directors of 12 UK listed companies which had recently tendered and/or changed auditor are used to investigate the tender/change process. Contrary to popular belief, fee levels do not necessarily dominate the decision to change auditors, rather changes within the client company, audit staffing, and auditor’s professionalism and competency issues dominate. Nor is the selection of a tender “winner” generally based solely on price, as predicted by tender theory and as would be expected when the consequences of audit failure do not fall on the directors. However, consistent with economic theory, the winning bid appears frequently to be too low, resulting in attempts by auditors to subsequently increase fees and resentment by the finance director. Directors generally appear to view the audit tender as relating to not only the attest function per se, but to a larger package of services concerning the financial reporting function. The relative importance of price versus non‐price competition in auditor choice is found to vary across companies. Auditor choice is influenced strongly by both economic and behavioural factors, in particular, by directors’ assessment of the quality of non‐attest services and the expected quality of working relationships, in addition to price and audit quality.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of board characteristics on firms’ investment decisions.

The study used data sourced from annual reports of firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2018. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by a regression analysis which forms the main data analysis.

The multiple regression analysis results indicated that the proportion of independent directors and financial experts on the board are negatively related to firm investment. These findings imply that independent directors and financial experts on the board can help firms reduce overinvestment and improve investment efficiency.

The extant literature shows that the board of directors are an effective mechanism to reduce agency problems in firm decisions and operating performance. However, there has been little research on the role of the board of directors in corporate investment policy.

This study comprehensively reviews the global literature on busy boards and audit committees.

Six eight articles on busy boards and audit committees from prominent accounting journals are reviewed and analyzed under the “reputation” and “busyness” premise.

Most studies advocating the “reputation” hypothesis have the consensus that busy directors have their benefits (knowledge spillovers), particularly regarding sharing their in-depth knowledge, experiences and expertise. This phenomenon is pronounced for younger and IPO firms, which have high advising and financing needs. From the “busyness” perspective, busy directors are too overboard in carrying out their duty effectively and responsibly.

This study identifies future research avenues on busy boards/audit committees and suggests that policymakers and regulators should limit the number of board appointments.

This is the first study to extensively amalgamate research on busy directors and audit committees. It reveals the various proxies used to measure the busyness of board and audit committee members and the consequences of busyness.