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The purpose of this paper is to provide an extension of the Corporate Governance Reporting Initiative (CGI) 2004, which reports on Malaysia's first corporate governance ratings. Characteristics of firms with high and low scores in the corporate governance ratings are analysed by comparing companies based on their corporate governance ranking as reported in the CGI.

Firms are classified into those at the top 50 percent and the bottom 50 percent of the corporate governance ratings list to examine whether there are any differences in the characteristics of firms in both classified samples. The characteristics of firms that are being examined are firms' profitability, leverage, growth, market valuation, size, age, ownership structure and countries of operation based on the Logit analysis.

The result shows that firm size has a strong influence with corporate governance ratings, but not so for other variables tested.

This study analyses only eight corporate characteristics. There are other measures that can represent firms' size such as market capitalization.

It is hoped that the traits found from the analysis will be able to provide additional information concerning corporate governance to interested parties. The characteristics revealed may probably be found to be essential elements in the development of effective and efficient corporate governance structure. The study could also help corporations in their short‐ and long‐term strategies.

This study bridges the gap of previous studies by using a complete set of governance standards on the analysis and directly identifies firms with certain scores of corporate governance and addresses issues related to these exceptional companies.

The Islamic bond, known as sukuk, is an ethical financing avenue driven by religious and profit motives. This study aims to analyze the relation between related party transactions and Sukuk. Companies with high related parties transactions are deemed to be committed toward social capital that they are more likely to choose sukuk for their debt financing.

Logistic regression analyses were conducted using data from 122 listed companies in Malaysia. Related party transactions proxy for companies’ commitment to social capital, while the likelihood to choose sukuk represents ethical financing.

This study documents a positive relationship between related party borrowings and sukuk, suggesting that close ties through related parties have created an ethical sense that is associated with the uptake of sukuk.

Future research can opt other measures of related party transactions, such as by identifying the different categories of transactions and related parties. Future research may also extend the sample size by using samples from several countries to enable analysis involving institutional environment variables of the countries.

Findings of this study highlight sukuk uniqueness by supporting its role as ethical financing avenue through commitment toward social capital.

This study is the first to use the social capital perspective of related party transactions in identifying ethical financing choice that the authors believe is relevant in the institutional context of developing Muslim countries.

This paper investigates whether board gender diversity and the strength of auditing and reporting standards are associated with analysts' forecast accuracy and whether the strength of auditing and reporting standards moderates the association between board gender diversity and analysts' forecast accuracy.

The sample covers 24,086 firm-year observations from 37 countries from 2009 to 2018. The data were obtained from various sources: earnings forecast data from the Institutional Brokers' Estimate System (IBES) database; board gender diversity and financial data from Thomson Reuters Fundamentals; and country-level data from World Economic Forum database. The authors measure board gender diversity using four proxies namely, the proportion of women directors on the board, a dummy variable for board with at least one women director, BLAU measurement corresponds to the proportion of group females and males using the formula adopted from the Hirschman-Herfindahl index (Hirschman, 1964) and the proportion of the number of women executives over the total number of directors. The study also uses a series of specification tests using alternative measures for each variable and controlling the global financial crisis and endogeneity issue.

Firms with higher board gender diversity have higher analysts' forecast accuracy. Compared to countries with weak auditing and reporting standards, the authors find firms in countries with strong auditing and reporting standards have more accurate forecasts. Further, the positive relationship between the board gender diversity and analysts' forecast accuracy is weaker for firms in countries with strong auditing and reporting standards, as compared to firms in countries with weak auditing and reporting standards.

This study found new evidence on the effect of women directorships on analyst forecasts and this relationship varies between levels of the strength of auditing and reporting standards, which was not addressed in prior studies.

This study highlights the importance of strengthening the policy on getting more women on board and the continuous efforts to enhance the strength of auditing and reporting standards of a country as valuable strategies to enhance the quality of analyst forecasts.

This is the first study that employs the international dataset to examine the moderating effect of the strength of auditing and reporting standards on the relationship between board gender diversity and analysts' forecast accuracy.

This study aims to examine the roles of perceived organisational support (POS), attitude and self-efficacy in understanding the external whistleblowing intentions among senior auditors through the lens of stimulus–organism–response theory.

This study uses data from 119 senior auditors in audit firms in Malaysia. POS is predicted to be a stimulus factor from the external environment that affects the attitude and self-efficacy (organism) of the auditors and reassures them to act to whistleblow (response).

POS has a significant impact on self-efficacy and on attitude. Self-efficacy is shown as a significant mediator between POS and external whistleblowing intentions, but there is no statistical support for self-efficacy having a mediating effect on the relationship between the attitude of senior auditors and external whistleblowing intentions.

The findings can assist accounting professional bodies in understanding the psychological behaviours of auditors that contribute to their intention to shine a light on wrongdoing in audit firms and in providing a better insight into the critical factors that could influence auditors to whistleblow.

This study is among the earliest to investigate the application of stimulus–organism–response theory in whistleblowing, and hence it illustrates how the theory can be applied in studies on the ethical behaviours of actors in professional careers. The findings shed light on the role of self-efficacy as a significant mediator between POS and external whistleblowing intentions.

Despite various regulatory frameworks to combat unethical conduct, fraud and corruption remain alarmingly high. While whistleblowing is an important mechanism to identify and prevent unethical conduct, there is a lack of empirical studies on this issue in the Malaysian context, especially whistleblowing within the audit firms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the whistleblowing intention of external auditors in Malaysia and the factors influencing this intention.

Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that was sent by post to external auditors throughout Malaysia. Participants were selected using a convenience non-probability sampling technique. A total of 274 responses were analyzed. SmartPLS version 3.2.8 was used for the analysis.

Professional commitment and independence commitment had a positive influence on whistleblowing intention, supporting the argument that professional factors can increase the intention of the external auditors to whistleblow. Perceived behavioural control had a positive relationship with whistleblowing intention, while there is no evidence to indicate that attitude and subjective norms influence whistleblowing intention.

This study explored whistleblowing among external auditors in Malaysia by focussing on the professional factors of professional commitment and independence commitment, which were hypothesized to be key factors in intention to whistleblow. These factors were incorporated with a multi-component of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, which were derived from the theory of planned behaviour. The findings have implications for the auditing profession because they provide a better understanding of the factors that influence the whistleblowing intention of external auditors.

This study aims to examine the association between environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and cash holdings, as well as whether this association is moderated by Shariah-compliant status. The aim was to test the joint effect of two ethical precepts, namely, the ESG and Shariah-compliant status, in explaining variations in cash holdings.

A sample set that consisted of 9,244 firm-year observations from 25 countries from 2016 to 2020 was analysed using regression analysis. Firm-level data were sourced from Thomson Reuters and Refinitiv databases, while country-level data were derived from the World Bank and Hofstede Insights websites.

Firms with greater ESG performances were found to have higher cash holdings. The positive association between ESG performance and cash holdings was greater for Shariah-compliant firms compared to non-Shariah-compliant firms. In support of the stakeholder theory, the evidence indicated that Shariah-compliant firms with higher ESG commitments also have higher cash holdings as part of their corporate strategy.

These findings provided further comprehension to investors that ESG practices among Shariah-compliant firms are essential information during investment decision-making processes.

These findings highlighted ethical corporate practices through two frameworks, namely, ESG commitment and Shariah compliance; hence, contributing towards strategies to reach the Sustainable Development Goal 16 of promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

This study has focused on the motives for cash holdings by considering the ethical precepts embodying ESG and Shariah compliance to uphold the positive impact of high cash reserves.

This paper aims to examine the association between corporate sustainability commitment and cash holding and whether the board’s leadership competency moderates the association.

The sample consisted of Islamic banks in Malaysia from 2017 to 2019. The sustainability commitment was measured based on the dimensions of the economic, social and environment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The sustainability commitment of the Islamic banks are low. The regression results are not supportive of the hypotheses on the association between corporate sustainability commitment and cash holding and the moderating effect of board’s leadership competency.

The Islamic banks in Malaysia are still in their early stages to achieve the SDGs, but the trend of disclosure suggests that they are gradually embracing the commitment to sustainability practices. It is in support of the agency theory, with findings indicating greater agency cost that is perceived upon companies with greater sustainability commitments.

This paper integrates the dimensions of the SDG with the value-based intermediation guideline by Bank Negara Malaysia in measuring sustainability commitment of Islamic banks.

This paper aims to investigate the joint effect of product market competition (PMC) and institutional environment on accrual quality.

The sample covers a large data set of 52,138 firm-year observations from 35 countries over the period of 2011-2015. Using the weighted least square regression, the study estimates PMC and institutional environment on accrual quality. The study measures PMC based on Herfindahl-Hirschman index, anti-director rights index (ADRI) based on the revised and updated La Porta et al.'s (1998) and accrual quality using the modified Dechow and Dichev (2002) model proposed by McNichols (2002). The study also uses a series of specification tests using alternative measures for each variable.

The study finds that highly intensified PMC relates to a lower quality of accruals. The results also show that accrual quality is better in countries with stronger institutional environment, specifically countries with higher ADRI, investor protection, judicial independence, protection of minority shareholders’ interests, protection of property rights, strength of the auditing and reporting standards, efficacy of corporate boards and corporate ethics. The findings suggest that institutional factors weaken the negative impact of PMC intensity on accrual quality, hence suggesting that institutional environment has a significant role to enhance accrual quality among firms in highly intensified industries.

The findings provide additional insights to policymakers and regulators on the importance of strong institutional and industry environment that can provide incentives and extra governance mechanisms besides the conventional firm-level corporate governance.

This study contributes in understanding the impact of intensity of PMC on accrual quality internationally and subsequently highlights the role of institutional environment as significant country-level governance in determining financial reporting quality, particularly accrual quality.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between ethical values and performance in the context of the banking sector in Malaysia.

Based on the philanthropic model, this study posits that firms undertaking zakat and charity are ethical firms. Zakat disclosure index (ZDI) and charity disclosure index (CDI) were constructed to measure ethical values. This study hypothesises that ethical values are positively associated with bank performance. Ethical values (i.e. CDI and ZDI) and financial performance data (i.e. return on assets) were collected from the disclosures made in the annual reports of 50 banks for a period of five years (2010-2014).

A positive association was found between zakat disclosure and bank performance. The results indicate that higher zakat disclosure is associated with greater bank performance. However, no relationship was found between charity disclosure and bank performance.

Considering the limitation of the index used in this study, other dimensions such as corporate governance, sustainability, products and environment can be considered in the development of index to measure ethical values in future studies.

This study offers additional explanation on the relationship between ethical values and performance by examining the role of zakat disclosures that characterize the unique aspects of Malaysian companies.

This study aims to investigate whether board gender diversity is associated with corporate sustainability performance and whether industry-level product market competition moderates the effect of board gender diversity on corporate sustainability performance.

This study uses international data extracted from global ESG data set from Thomson Reuters (Refinitiv) database. Using data of 23,137 firm-year observations from 37 countries, the authors perform regression analyses to examine the hypotheses.

The findings show that firms with high board gender diversity exhibit high corporate sustainability performance. The authors also find firms in highly competitive industries to have low corporate sustainability performance. In highly competitive industries, the positive relationship between board gender diversity and corporate sustainability performance is weakened. The results are robust to various specification tests such as alternative measures for corporate sustainability performance, board gender diversity, product market competition and also the use of propensity score matching to address endogeneity issue. Overall, the results support the prediction that board diversity and product market competition play a substitutive role in influencing corporate sustainability performance.

This study offers empirical evidence that the appointment of female directors is a useful way to improve a firm’s corporate sustainability performance, hence, providing significant benefits in terms of stakeholders’ values and corporate reputation.

This study provides useful insights to investors and policymakers that intense industry competition might mitigate the role of board governance, particularly board gender diversity, in enhancing corporate sustainability performance.

Using an international data set, where the observations operate in various market and institutional differences, this study is able to extricate the positive impact of board gender diversity and product market competition on corporate sustainability performance. This study corroborates evidence that sustainability strategy and initiatives are reflections of integrated factors, including corporate governance as internal driver and market forces faced by firms as external driver.