The advancement of digital technology has affected many industries, including digital payment services. The objective of this study was to analyze the adoption of Fintech payment services in Indonesia using the UTAUT theory approach. This study also considered the important role of national culture in strengthening the effect of the social influence variable in creating trust. The study added the government policy variable in strengthening the effect of facilitating a condition in creating trust. The study was conducted by distributing 310 questionnaires to freshly employed graduates who were digital payment services users. Further analysis was conducted with linear multiple regression using IBM SPSS 26. The study found that trust had the highest effect in creating the adoption decision in digital payment services, followed by government policies in strengthening the facilitating conditions. Meanwhile, performance and effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition did not have a direct influence on customer trust. Uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and long-term orientation also did not have a strengthening effect of social influence in gaining trust. Keywords: UTAUT, national culture, government policy, trust, adoption in digital payment

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This study examines the impact of IFRS adoption on the information content of reported earnings in Malaysia. This is based on an investigation of the information content of earnings for the years 2004 to 2008, involving 2521 firm-year observations. Overall, the results indicate that IFRS adoption has positive impact on the information content of earnings. However, the results revealed that earnings demonstrated higher information content during the periods before the adoption of the IFRS. The lower information content of earnings revealed in the year of the adoption and subsequent year infers that the financial reporting infrastructure is moving towards full convergence with the IFRS. Once this is accomplished, it is expected that the adoption of IFRS in Malaysia will result in information-oriented financial reports that provide useful information to investors and otherstakeholders. This is consistent with the improved information content of earnings in 2008. These findings provide regulatory bodies with enhanced understanding in their efforts to improve the financial reporting quality in Malaysia.

Fraud has become a worldwide issue, impacting a massive number of organizations throughout the globe. The PwC's Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2020 highlighted not only has fraud surged in the private sector, but it has also impacted the public sector causing entities to incur significant financial losses. Motivated by this phenomenon, this study aims to investigate whether fraud awareness, fraud prevention and detection strategies and anti-fraud technology are significantly related to the public auditors' perceptions of the efficacy of fraud prevention and detection in the public sector. Data were collected through questionnaires, distributed to 180 respondents of public auditors in the Malaysian ministries. 133 usable responses were obtained, generating an effective response rate of 74%. Based on the underpinning fraud triangle theory, the research discovers that fraud awareness, and fraud prevention and detection strategies are positively related to the perceived efficacy of fraud prevention and detection. This study differs from prior studies that primarily examined the prevention and detection of fraud in the private sector, by expanding the scope to include the public sector. Determining whether fraud prevention and detection strategies exist and are properly implemented in the public sector is critical since government bodies continue to be vulnerable to irresponsible people misusing public funds. The research findings offer important insights on the level of fraud awareness among practitioners and the determination of fraud prevention and detection mechanisms and technologies that are perceived to be most effective in public organizations.

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The Covid-19 pandemic had changed the business model in various industries. Companies have switched to digital business processes in order to survive in this challenging situation. Financial Technology (Fintech), especially digital payment services, has become the most preferred solution for handling financial transactions in conditions of limited mobility and interaction. The phenomenal emergence of Fintech has captured the attention of the world and the Asian region, including Malaysia and Indonesia. Despite various benefits offered by Fintech, the adoption rate is still relatively low, especially for IT-savvy groups of fresh graduates in both countries. This comparative study aims to analyze the adoption of Fintech payment services in Malaysia and Indonesia using the UTAUT theory approach. The research measures the relationships between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, consumers’ trust, and national culture with the adoption of Fintech. Each indicator of national culture, such as individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and long-term orientation, was measured to see its relationship with the adoption rate. The quantitative method was employed, and the data were collected via an online survey of a total of 486 respondents. Using multivariate regression analysis, 57.9 % behavioral adoption of Fintech payment services both in Malaysia and Indonesia was explained through performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, customer trust and national culture. The study revealed that performance expectancy and the cultural factor individualism had the highest effect on the decision to adopt digital payment services. This study contributes to the Fintech ecosystem in both countries by providing some recommendations to Fintech providers, financial institutions, and governments in policy making. It is also expected that the research will support the government’s goal to become a cashless society as a strategy to increase financial inclusion.

The Nigerian manufacturing industry is one of the country's key economic growth engines. Since firms in the manufacturing sector are considered as high-risk ventures, they encounter significant difficulty in raising funds, especially from financial institutions. The manufacturing sector reported a significant decline in its economic activity and job creation compared to other sectors due to the difficulties faced by firms in attaining an optimal financial management strategy to support their business operations. In the attempt to identify optimal finance for maximizing firms’ profitability, this study aims to examine the relationship between financial management practices and the financial performance of quoted Nigerian manufacturing firms. A sample of 33 quoted Nigerian manufacturing companies from the year 2015 to 2018 were selected. A multivariate regression analysis was performed based on 132 firm-year observations, where it is documented that solvency, proxies by debt to assets ratio, is positively and significantly related to firm’s profitability. Results however revealed an insignificant relationship between liquidity and firm’s profitability. The findings of this study reveal that firms should sustain in being solvent in order to generate business growth and achieve set development goals. Besides being solvent, companies should manage their liquidity position effectively, thus enabling firms to reap competitive advantage. The findings support the trade-off theory, which claims that firm profitability increases as a firm’s debt increases, but only to the point where any further increases in the firms’ debt after it reaches its optimum level causes profitability to decline.

A low participation of the Orang Asli students can be seen in the local education system and has persisted even after decades of study and enforcement of several government policies. This paper reviews prior research on Indigenous education, to determine how the Orang Asli students are impacted by the mainstream educational curriculum. In attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) vision of “Education for All” and ensuring that the indigenous students succeed in school, this paper is of the view that it is crucial that a culturally compatible curriculum is implemented in schools. Besides, teachers may need to tailor their teaching style to the Orang Asli students’ needs to allow a more enhanced learning outcome while retaining their cultural competence.