Search results

Electronic government (e-government) is perceived as an effective tool to enhance accountability in public organizations. However, e-government implementation to enhance accountability is still unclear and involves many complex processes because of the multiple accountabilities disorder. The e-government elements that contribute to mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are still underdeveloped in the current literature. This paper aims to provide understanding on how e-government enhances public organizations’ accountability by highlighting the key elements of e-government that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships.

This study adopts a qualitative case study approach by using the case of Jordan Customs. Data were collected using a triangulation approach that involved semi-structured interviews, document reviews and observation.

The findings revealed that the e-government elements that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are classified into three contexts, namely, technological, environmental and organizational aspects. The technological elements include systems integration, single window and electronic connectivity. The environmental elements embrace public participation and partnership council. The organizational elements comprise having well-defined strategic plan and risk management approach.

This study contributes and gives further insight into how to address the confusion, fuzziness and dysfunctions in accountability relationships existing in the literature by providing several success elements that mitigate the problematic of disorder between accountability relationships in public organizations. The paper highlights the need to investigate further elements, particularly, in the organizational context, to assist public organizations in improving their performance to enhance accountability in their operations.

This study provides guidelines for future e-government implementation strategy in public organizations, particularly, in the context of developing countries, as most of the recent studies of e-government in developing countries indicated that they are suffering from difficulty of managing e-government implementation to promote accountability successfully and are struggling with a lack of resources and experiences to handle this new trend of technology.

This study is of a significant value, as it is one of the preliminary studies that empirically extend the accountability dimensions suggested by Koppell (2005) with the key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability proposed by Heeks (1998b) and other current literature. This paper enriches the body of literature by providing some new key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability in public organizations. It also contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of knowledge by adding further interpretation on how these elements reduce the existing confusions and dysfunctions in accountability relationships.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a digital transformation tool that demonstrated tremendous growth in research output as well as its application in the past decade. This study attempts to identify essential research gaps and proposes future research agendas in the field by analyzing publishing trends, major stakeholders (authors, countries, affiliations, journals), key clusters and evolving themes by mapping the most recent research (2016–2022) in the field.

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was used to retrieve a total of 244 publications from the Web of Science (WOS) database for this analysis. The study then uses the open-source R program bibliometrix to conduct bibliometric analysis. A variety of tools and methods including collaboration network, word dynamics, co-occurrence network, thematic map and strategy map were utilized.

The analysis reveals the most influential stakeholders (country: the USA, author: Arai K, affiliation: Christ Deemed University), main clusters of intellectual structure (process mining, digital transformation, blockchain, information systems) and the evolution of themes (model innovation, artificial intelligence, big-data, design science and user acceptance) in the subject.

This study uses bibliometric analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of RPA literature which unravels the conceptual structure of the stream and proposes a research agenda for the future. Based on the growth of themes and the strategy map, this study may assist entrepreneurs and practitioners in determining field priorities for strategizing process innovation.

This study unravels the intellectual structure of virtual reality (VR) in digital marketing (DM) research, identifies core research gaps and presents future research avenues. The study also conducts a performance analysis of publications in the field and identifies the most important stakeholders of the stated topic.

The Web of Science database was used to retrieve the publications that were relevant to the topic between 2012 and 2022. Biblioshiny, a shiny app for the Bibliometrix R package, is used to conduct a bibliometric analysis by decoding the results into several visual representations.

This report includes the most prolific contributors, keyword analysis results, productive nations, authors and connections, as well as the most often cited publications on VR in DM. In DM research, numerous perspectives on VR were looked at, explored and revealed.

The findings provide a new perspective and understanding of the issue for researchers in order to improve their research insights in the field. This study will also benefit marketing practitioners in ensuring the sustainability and innovativeness of technology used to run their DM campaigns.

This research provides the first bibliometric analysis of the citation works and productivity in the field of VR in DM using Biblioshiny, identifies core research gaps and provides future research agenda which can be useful to advance the research understanding in this context.

This paper aims to improve the understanding of the institutional pressures that shape the intention to adopt waqf accounting and reporting. The study seeks to answer two research questions as follows: what are the challenges in the adoption of waqf accounting and reporting in waqf institutions; and how do institutional pressures influence the adoption of waqf reporting in Malaysia. Drawing on the work of DiMaggio and Powell and Scott of institutional theory, this paper provides empirical evidence of institutional pressures on the adoption of waqf reporting in Malaysia and the challenges faced in adopting waqf accounting and reporting.

This study uses qualitative research method with an explanatory case study approach. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews with the accountants of State Islamic Religious Council and Customs of Terengganu, an informal conversation with the Deputy Director of Accountant Generals Department of Malaysia and document reviews, mainly the Malaysian Accounting Standard Board Research paper.

The findings show that coercive pressure such as government regulation contributes to challenges in the adoption of waqf accounting and reporting. Normative pressures contribute to challenges in formulating standardised waqf accounting and reporting, whereas mimetic pressure contributes to challenges in the comparability of the waqf accounting and reporting among the state Islamic religious councils in Malaysia. In the efforts towards the standardisation of waqf accounting and reporting practice, a similarity of the process of the standard implementation or the institutional isomorphism of the State Islamic Religious Council in Terengganu is strongly influenced from the result of the mandate of its Board members and Fatwa council members (coercive isomorphism and religion logic) and minor influence from the normative isomorphism (the result of the participants’ education and profession) as well as the result of imitating other State of Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) because of the ambiguity of the process or certain practice.

The study contributes to the knowledge by extending institutional theory and the possible role of religion logic in Islamic perspective to organisational behaviour and accounting development in SIRCs. This study is limited to the understanding of the challenges in the adoption of waqf accounting and reporting but could also be applicable to the adoption of other accounting standards or regulations.

This paper offers key implications for research, in improving the understanding of contextual factors and decision to adopt waqf accounting and reporting. The standard setter needs to be aware of the influence of contextual factors that shape decision towards standardisation of accounting and reporting for waqf.

The interplay of institutional pressures and implications of religion logic provides an interesting approach to understanding the waqf institutions’ intention to adopt accounting and reporting for waqf.

This study utilises an internship framework to justify the need for feedback from all three groups of internship stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to determine the benefits, skills, and outcomes students gained through internships from the perspective of students, university and employers.

A set of structured questionnaires was used to survey the perceptions of students, university and employers of an accounting internship. A total of 172 responses were analysed.

Findings show that all three groups of stakeholders perceived that students benefit from the internship programme. They also perceived that an internship provides the students with both the technical and soft skills required in the marketplace. However, the mean score and ranking differ among the students, university and employers.

The study was conducted based on feedback on a single accounting programme. Therefore any characteristics inherent in this sample that differ from the overall population of accounting programmes could bias the results and limit its generalisability and any associated inferences. Questionnaire responses should be interpreted with caution as perceptions and self-insights are subjective and may or may not be reflective of reality. This study falls short of putting forward any reasons why results differ from previous studies or why the mean scores of the three stakeholders all differ. Further research may take into consideration a comparison of internship programmes across institutions and disciplines. Future studies can also use the reflection approach and interview to better explain the benefits and skills developed through accounting internship programmes.

Practically, findings from this study provide feedback to the students, university and employers to continuously improve accounting internship for undergraduate accounting programmes.

Social implications lie within the research framework that emphasises the student learning experience, university support through theoretical understanding and employer contribution through the practical component.

Internships have become part of an accounting curriculum in many universities globally. To date, most studies on internship practices are limited in scope and focus on feedback from a single perspective. This study fills the gap in the literature by conducting a perception-based survey of internship stakeholders: students, university and employers, on benefits and skills acquired through internship.

Finance and accounting (FA) offshore outsourcing is a growing trend involving a relocation of business processes to Asia but only few studies focus on understanding the issues that underlie the relocation of FA services. This paper aims to provide understanding of transaction costs economics (TCE) issues in FA offshore outsourcing using a case study of the Malaysia outsourcing industry which is growing and experiencing significant change.

This study uses a qualitative case study approach. Interviews cover several foreign firms, which are based in Malaysia and involved in FA offshore outsourcing services worldwide. Interviews also include related regulatory bodies in Malaysia.

Using TCE and management control theoretical framework, findings indicate issues and challenges faced by the firms and the need for contract management skills to mitigate the issues.

This study is limited to a broad discussion of FA offshore outsourcing, TCE and contract management but it could be a basis for future studies on specific issues of managing attrition in FA offshore outsourcing. This study contributes to prior works in TCE and FA offshore outsourcing by establishing controls to minimise costs at contact, contract and control stage. Specifically, this study emphasises contract management such as negotiating contract and using long‐term contractual arrangement.

This study not only identifies TCE issues in offshore FA outsourcing, but also provides suggestions for minimising transaction costs. For example, firms should consider the type of transaction costs involved and plan for appropriate contract management to mitigate the costs.

There is no study yet that discusses in‐depth the issues of TCE in FA offshore outsourcing especially in Malaysia and the need for contract management in mitigating such issues.

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of accounting outsourcing practices in Malaysia and the management control strategies undertaken by these practising firms to mitigate inherent risks.

This study employs survey methodology using structured questionnaires and case studies using interviews. A total of 51 companies responded to the questionnaires and two companies participated in the interview.

The survey data revealed that the primary reason for engaging in accounting outsourcing was to gain quality accounting service from the experts. With regard to management control strategies, it was shown that respondents place high emphasis of behavior, output and social controls. Further investigation using case studies involving a vendor and client companies reveal that the control mechanisms involved were stated in the outsourcing contract, namely the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and penalties. Informal controls were also used in both cases to assist in solving conflicts and dissatisfaction among vendors and clients.

The identification the control strategies in the accounting outsourcing process is useful for companies to manage the inherent risks in outsourcing relationships. The knowledge on the control practices by firms involved in accounting outsourcing provides additional assurance to potentials interested in seeking accounting services in this country.

This paper is driven by the lack of empirical evidence of accounting outsourcing practices in Malaysia and paucity of research into the role of management control in an outsourcing relationship. Despite the growth of the outsourcing industry in Malaysia, little has been done to understand the contribution of a professional service sector such as the accounting services to this industry.

A shared service (SS) arrangement involves an intra‐firm interrelationship, since the SS centre (SSC), operated as an independent business unit, provides services to clients who are other independent business units in the same company group. The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of risks and controls used in mitigating SS risks.

This study adopts a qualitative approach using a case study of a SSC in a bank group in Malaysia. The risks and control framework developed by Das and Teng was used to analyse the appropriate control mechanisms for mitigating internal outsourcing risks, namely relational risk and performance risk.

The main relational risk identified is the possibility of opportunistic behaviour. However, this risk could be mitigated through social control especially when both parties share norms and values. Performance risks in SSC are mainly related to unsatisfactory services in terms of incomplete information, system errors and human mistakes. These risks could be mitigated using either behaviour control or output control. Behaviour control can be exercised through performance reporting, while output control can be achieved through key performance indicators (KPIs) and service level agreements (SLA).

This study is limited to a single case study of a SSC with a certain type of arrangement and discusses business process outsourcing (BPO) in general. Future research may examine cases with other SS arrangements, detailed examination of each BPO and incorporate multi‐perspective views from both SSC and their clients. Issues concerning changes in control in the evolving situation of SSC and bargaining power and trust in mitigating SSC risks are also worth exploring.

The study's findings enable practitioners to draw insights to develop effective control strategies to mitigate risks in intra‐organizational relationships such as SSC.

The paper adds to our knowledge of control mechanisms for mitigating risks in the SS relationship, which is a relatively new concept in the literature.

Firms in Malaysia are in an enviable position in view of Malaysia's standing as a leading outsourcing hub in the region. Despite that, little is known about the accounting outsourcing practices, risks and control in Malaysia. This paper aims to explore the practices, decisions, processes and perception of risks and control in accounting outsourcing.

This paper is written based on survey data which were collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaires were directed to the head of the accounts and finance department of each company. A total of 51 companies participated in this study and approximately 47.1 percent of the respondents are involved in accounting outsourcing.

Findings show that the most common outsourcing activities are financial reporting and auditing while the main reasons to outsource are quality service, core competencies and scale economies. The decision to outsource accounting services is related to the type of industry and expertise in the firms. Most of the firms outsource their preparation of account and audit work as well as tax for better quality services. Firms rely more on formal contracts and concerns about confidentiality and security of accounting data.

Because of the limited number of responses, the findings may not be generalized to the overall population. Nevertheless, they can be used as background information for subsequent research in accounting outsourcing activities. Future research may consider the use of in‐depth case studies for understanding challenges in accounting outsourcing particularly in making decisions, managing processes and mitigating risks.

While it can be regarded as exploratory, this study makes an attempt to uncover the risks and control issues in accounting outsourcing. The findings will contribute to the body of knowledge in accounting outsourcing and enhance the understanding of the current accounting outsourcing practices in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to provide understanding on the process of accounting outsourcing turnback from the client's perspective. The aim is to understand the issues faced by clients during turnback process, and provide recommendations to resolve them.

This study adopts a qualitative interpretive case study approach. Data were collected based on documentation, archival records, direct observation, and interviews to allow for triangulation.

This study provides empirical evidence of accounting outsourcing turnback process. Some of the issues faced by clients include lack of management support, limited financial and human resources, and uncooperative vendors.

Theoretically, this study extends Elliot's model by providing empirical evidence on process, identifying issues, and discussing recommendations on accounting outsourcing turnback. The limitation is the use of a single case study of a small company in Malaysia.

Practically, this study enhances understanding on accounting outsourcing turnback process and issues. The recommendations provided can serve as guidelines for clients who are considering outsourcing turnback as a strategic move.

There has been limited research in the area of accounting outsourcing focusing on turnback process. This study contributes to the field of accounting outsourcing by describing an accounting turnback process and issues faced by clients. The study recommends communication, financial support, top management support, back‐up exit plan, and vendor management throughout the turnback period. Finally, gradual reduction of accounting outsourced works rather than immediate termination is favored to reduce the risk in accounting outsourcing turnback.