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When developing and justifying courses of study in business ethics the designer will be interested in setting benchmarks reflecting his/her understanding or appreciation of the moral views of participating members. Such considerations are often complicated by the fact, relevant in many Australian institutions of higher learning, that most of the cohorts contain overseas students from a variety of Asian countries. If insights into the ethical perceptions of students with differing ethnic origins could be measured in some objective fashion, then curriculum planners might take such matters into account when developing strategies for courses involving business ethics. This paper reports the findings of a questionnaire survey that examined the ethical perceptions of 407 second and third year students completing business courses at two Western Australian universities. Two country groupings, Australian and Malaysian students, were identified and their responses examined to ascertain whether relevant demographic factors relating to age and gender could be used to explain the strong differences in perceptions which were noted with respect to issues involving questionable practices involving consumers. Demographic factors failed to explain observed differences and a subsequent examination of the underlying constructs, using factor and cluster analyses, resulted in the realisation that the two groups demonstrated significantly variant patterns of ethical predisposition.

This study contributes to the limited literature dealing with ethical perceptions of earnings management in developing capital markets by investigating the perceptions of managers, accountants, and investment analysts in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand, to ethical issues concerning the management of earnings. The results are compared to similar studies undertaken in the US and UK. The results show that East Asian managers, accountants, and analysts tended to be less willing to condemn situations as clearly unethical and use a narrower range of ethical responses than their US/U K counterparts. However, there was a remarkable overall consistency of perceptions between East Asian and US/UK managers, accountants, and analysts in relation to many issues.

The purpose of this study was to determine the professional competency levels acquired by internal auditors in detecting unethical behaviour, to evaluate the position of internal auditors on objectivity and integrity in dealing with unethical behaviour and to examine the extent of their awareness on ethical issues in government-linked companies (GLCs).

Data were collected via questionnaires that were randomly distributed to the internal auditors of the selected GLS in Malaysia. These questionnaires were constructed from the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) Examination Paper and The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Competency Framework.

This study found that internal auditors of the GLCs had a high level of competency in performing audit engagements and were able to detect unethical practices in the companies. The majority of the internal auditors also had a high level of objectivity and integrity when faced with unethical behaviour during audit engagements.

This study provided strong evidence that the internal auditors of Malaysian GLCs strongly complied with IIA Code of Ethics. Besides, they were also aware of the unethical behaviour which occurred within their organizations. However, this study is limited to the internal auditors in GLCs, while the questions of the survey instrument are restricted to the elements of integrity, objectivity and professional competencies of internal auditors.

This study highlights the level of internal-auditor competency and adherence to the IIA’s International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (ISPPIA) and IIA’s Practice Guide to identify unethical behaviour within the Malaysian GLCs.

This study is original as it focusses on GLCs which did not get much attention from previous researchers, particularly the GLCs that operate in a developing country such as Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which demographic factors and corporate ethical value impact on ethical decisions of Malaysian accounting practitioners.

A questionnaire survey was carried out to elicit opinions from accounting practitioners on corporate ethical values and ethical judgements. Regression analysis was performed on 201 completed and useable questionnaires.

The regression analysis shows that corporate ethical value is a significant factor determining ethical judgements. Age is also a significant factor, with older accounting practitioners being stricter in their ethical stance. To a lesser extent, gender is also significant, with females exhibiting higher ethical judgements than males.

The regression model reports an adjusted R-squared of 19.2%, which suggests further work in this area is necessary to identify other determinants for (un)ethical judgements. A qualitative approach such as interviewing corporate players may shed light on other possible factors.

The findings suggest that regulatory efforts have contributed towards a more ethically imbued corporate environment. The Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (2012), which recommends corporations to have formalized ethical standards and women on corporate boards, appears to have positive influence on creating a more ethical working climate. In addition, the enactment of the Minimum Retirement Age Act (2012) also proves relevant in further promoting ethical judgements.

The study highlights the applicability of the theory of moral development to an Asian developing country, and that gender, age and corporate ethical values are complementary in influencing ethical judgements of accounting practitioners in Malaysia.

This paper aims to examine the extent of ethical values information disclosure on the top 100 Malaysian and Indonesian companies’ annual reports using coercive isomorphism under the institutional theory.

Using the content analysis, the presence or exclusion of ethical values information disclosed on 100 Malaysian and Indonesian companies’ annual reports using a newly developed Ethical Values Disclosure Index is carried out.

The results of the analysis found that Indonesian companies on average disclosed 31 items under study compared to 27 items disclosed by the companies in Malaysia. The results suggest that Indonesian companies are more vigilant in the code of ethics, companies policy on ethical issues, monitoring program and accountability, ethical performance, ethical infrastructure and organizational responsibility aspects, whereas their Malaysian counterparts are better in reporting governance and integrity committee or board of directors.

The findings may not be applicable to other countries in the same region, nevertheless, revealed the importance of adequate ethical values disclosure in determining the level of ethical behavior.

Companies in Indonesia are coercively pressed by various influential stakeholder groups to address ethical issues. The less disclosure regarding corporate ethical behavior may indicate that unethical practices continue to be a problem in the Malaysian corporate sector.

This paper adds to the literature by examining the elements of ethical values adapted mainly from the professional bodies that regulate the accounting profession and other organizations using the institutional theory, particularly in two countries.

This paper aims to examine the extent of the Shari’a corporate governance disclosure in the annual report of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) in Malaysia to determine the significant differences in this disclosure between the local and foreign-owned IFIs, small and large size IFIs and IFIs belong to Islamic and conventional holding companies.

All 16 IFIs in Malaysia were selected to analyse the extent of disclosure in their annual reports on issues related to Shari’a corporate governance. For this purpose, an index of Shari’a corporate governance disclosure for IFIs was created based on adapting Sulaiman et al. (2015). The index consists of 127 items classified into 14 dimensions. The scoring of the disclosed items is binary, where a score of “1” if disclosed and “0” if it was not disclosed in the annual report.

The result shows no significant differences in the Shari’a corporate governance disclosure between the local and foreign-owned IFIs, small and large size IFIs and IFIs belonging to Islamic and conventional holding companies. However, further examination shows that there was a significant difference in the disclosure of the risk management committee dimension between the large and small IFIs and investment account holders dimension between the conventional and Islamic holding companies.

The results provide new emerging evidence that deviates from many prior empirical research studies, which document the domination of Islamic-based IFIs in the corporate governance practices, as compared with their conventional financial institutions that venture into Islamic finance. This study, however, was conducted on only 16 IFIs in a one-year period, i.e. 2013. Future research should consider data from a larger number of IFIs that involve a number of countries with more than one year of data to have a better understanding of the extent of Shari’a corporate governance disclosure.

This study provides an indicator to the stakeholders of Islamic finance that the Islamic-based IFIs and conventional IFIs are equal and cannot be differentiated based on the Shari’a corporate governance disclosure. For Islamic-based IFIs, as a pioneer in Islamic banking and finance industry, they need to take more efforts in adopting the Shari’a governance framework issued by the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM), namely, the Shari’a review, audit and risk management.

This study is original, as it includes the latest requirements by the Shari’a governance framework issued by the BNM, namely, the Shari’a review, audit, risk management and research functions in its research instrument. In addition, this research also scrutinised the disclosure in detail of all the dimensions constructed in the governance index.

Most organizations are fully aware of the misconduct that occurs within their company but take a soft-handed approach attending to the problems. Consequently, misconduct that at the beginning is just a mere incompliance may become a corporate scandal involving a substantial amount of money. This paper aims to examine the factors that influence whistleblowing intentions of employees that work in one big corporation, ABC Berhad, which experienced a corporate scandal.

A survey questionnaire is used in which the respondents from the various departments of the selected study case, ABC Berhad, were required to indicate the seriousness of the wrong-doing cases and their intention to whistleblow based on the given vignette. A total of 70 survey questionnaires were distributed. Out of these, 63 questionnaires were returned, for a response rate of 90 per cent.

The result of the study shows that gender did not have any significant influence to the likelihood to whistle blow. However, the job position of the respondents has a significant result as it can influence the likelihood to whistle blow. The study also found that the more serious the wrongdoing, the higher the likelihood to blow the whistle.

The results provide further confirmation of the determinants that influence employees to report wrongdoings in the organizations. This study, however, may be subject to self-reported data biasness due to the sensitivity of the topic. In addition, respondents may not give responses or answers based on the actual situation but be tempted to response based on socially desirable which is to please their peers and others.

This study shows ABC Berhad whether its employees are ethical in carrying their duties and indicates their levels in ethical reporting. In addition, the study helps the company generally and ABC Berhad particularly to understand the working culture in the company so that they can identify the areas of the governance that need improvement such as protection to the employee that blew the whistle.

This study is original as it focuses on the employees in a big organization such as government-linked companies (GLCs) that have experienced corporate scandals although they have a whistleblowing mechanism in place.

Integrity-related issues are now endemic to public service bureaucracies. It is claimed that corruption in the public sector is very common in various departments/agencies. Lack of integrity will lead to failings in governance and proper oversight of procedures, and subsequently poor financial management and incidents of fraud. Based on the stakeholder theory perspective, this study examines the influences of accountability, risk management and managerial commitment on practices of integrity in the Malaysian public sector.

Primary data were collected through both printed and online questionnaires given to 210 department heads operating within selected Malaysian federal ministries. Data were analysed via the partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach to examine the research hypotheses.

It is evident that integrity practices in Malaysia's public sector are statistically significantly related to risk management, accountability and management commitment.

The findings will help the Malaysian federal ministries to take the necessary steps to improve integrity so that dependability and efficiency are the hallmarks of public sector services.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine the role of accountability, risk management and managerial commitment to integrity in the public sector of a developing market economy.

The purpose of this study is to propose a world-class good governance ethics framework that leads to better corporate performance. ethics among managers, executives and members of the board of directors working in public-listed companies brings grave concern because of the increasing number of criminal acts reported by the Security Commission of Malaysia.

This study introduces a world-class good governance ethics framework for curbing criminal acts in public-listed companies in Malaysia. This study used a mixed method to gather data, and the methods used are appropriate for answering the research questions based on the World-Class Good Governance Ethics framework.

The finding of this study reveals high expectations for a corporate organization to improve individual and team performance while undertaking their corporate responsibilities, and a matter of choice, to adopt world-class good governance ethics in their policies and practices.

This study could be a reference for corporate management to regulate policies monitoring management's and employees' conduct at the workplace. This study's theoretical and practical significance would guide the stakeholders in corporate management to regulate governance policies based on the right ethical values and promote personalities with high integrity in management conduct.

This study promotes a world-class good governance ethics framework in curbing criminal acts for better corporate performance. This new framework is formulated based on the concept of a caliph and other essential elements envisaged by the Quranic verses.

Many corporate scandals that occurred recently have indicated the importance of a whistle-blowing mechanism in preventing fraud and malpractices from damaging the organizations. By selecting one organization that has experienced a corporate scandal, this study aims to examine factors that influence employee’s intention to blow the whistle to prevent malpractices in the company. In addition, this study also examines the perceptions of employees regarding the business culture in their organization and how this culture impacts their intention to whistle-blow.

This study engages in a mixed method of data collection, namely, survey questionnaire and interviews to gather the data.

It is found that retaliation is the most important factor that influences the employee’s intention to whistle-blow, followed by the burden to prove the malpractices, cost implications as a result of the wrongdoing and the action taken by the authority as a result of the fraud reporting. In terms of business culture, a large number of employees are reluctant to become a whistle-blower, although a secured and safe whistle-blowing mechanism is in place, indicating that Asian customs of collectivism and assertiveness play a major part in shaping the whistle-blowing mechanism in Malaysian organizations.

The results provide further confirmation of the determinants that influence employees to report wrongdoings in the organizations. This study however may subject to self-reported data biasness because of sensitivity of the research that related to fraud and immoral behaviours that occur in the company. Owing to this sensitivity, the study only focuses on employees’ internal whistle-blowing intentions rather than their actual intentions.

This study helps the management to understand the working culture in the company so that they can identify the weak area of governance which needs improvement such as whistle-blower protection.

This study is original, as it focuses on the employees in a big organization such as government link companies that have experienced corporate scandals albeit having whistle-blowing mechanism in place. In addition, the finding of this study contributes to the theory and body of the literature on the whistle-blowing determinants, currently scarce in the context of a developing country like Malaysia.