This study examines the relationship between political connections, corporate governance, and tax aggressiveness among firms listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia. Corporate governance is proxied by firm-level internal and external governance, whereas tax aggressiveness is identified by using the effective tax rates of firms. Data collected from 2000 to 2009 resulted in 2,538 firm-year observations. We find that politically connected firms are more tax aggressive than non-connected firms. Further, we find that a large board size decreases the likelihood of tax aggressiveness, and that an inverse U relationship exists between institutional ownership and tax aggressiveness, which suggests an increase in monitoring as the ownership increases. However, we find no evidence to suggest that corporate governance mitigates the influence of political connections in promoting taxaggressiveness behaviour. Our findings suggest that the impact of political connections could neutralise the benefits of changes in corporate governance in Malaysia.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which ethics education is incorporated in the curriculum by accounting academics (EXTENT) and its relationship with the following four factors: accounting academics’ attitudes towards ethics education (ATTDE); head of department support (HODS); peer support (PEERS); and accounting academics’ ethics teaching self-efficacy (ETSE). Design/methodology/approach The study utilises data from a questionnaire survey of 117 accounting academics in Malaysia and engages path analysis to test various hypothesised relationships. Findings The results indicate that ATTDE, HODS and PEERS have a significant and positive impact on accounting academics’ ETSE. The findings also suggest that ETSE and PEERS have a direct and positive impact on EXTENT. Overall, ETSE is found to be a significant mediating variable in the relationship between ATTDE, HODS, PEERS and EXTENT. Research limitations/implications The relatively small sample of 117 Malaysian accounting academics and the limited number of factors studied as drivers of ETSE, which limits generalisability of the results. Practical implications This paper is particularly useful for informing heads of departments and the regulatory and professional bodies of resourcing and fostering a work environment that supports peer support and interactions as well as knowledge resources that facilitate individual accounting academics’ to integrate ethics content in their courses or units. Originality/value The study is guided by Bandura’s (1977, 1997) self-efficacy theory and adapts Tschannen-Moran and Hoy’s (2001) teacher efficacy construct in understanding how accounting academic’s belief in one’s ability to complete tasks and achieve goals affects the level of integration of ethics in their courses.

We examine the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) convergence on conditional conservatism in Malaysia. In addition, we examine the influence of various institutional factors, namely, political connections, Bumiputras directors, family firms and richest-men connections on conservatism. Prior literature presents evidence of IFRS convergence on conservatism, but limited evidence exists on the role of institutional factors on conservatism. Using a sample of 1760 firm-year observations from 2004 to 2008, we provide evidence that IFRS enhances conservatism. Firms with Bumiputras directors and family firms are more conservative post-IFRS convergence, whereas the reverse behaviour results for firms with richestmen connections. We find no evidence of politically connected firms being more conservative post-IFRS convergence. Our study provides knowledge on the role of IFRS in conditional conservatism and the role of institutional factors in this relationship.

Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.

Purpose This study aims to design a set of sustainability indicators that is pertinent to cooperatives longevity. The primary goal of the cooperatives is towards meeting the economic progress of members while satisfying their socio-cultural interests and protecting the environment. As a sustainable and participatory form of business, cooperatives offer an alternative business model to social enterprises. Design/methodology/approach Using an extraction process analysis, this study examined and analyzed guidelines, indices, and framework on sustainability used by the public companies. The selected materials were analyzed using Atlas.ti software, whereby common indicators were divided into themes. The indicators were further scrutinized to suit the cooperatives identity and local regulations. Findings The results are presented as indicators for cooperatives sustainability that could serve as strategies and performance measurement. Promotion and expansion of cooperatives could be an important instrument for more than one billion people around the world involved in cooperatives either as members/customers, employees/participants, or both. Originality/value This work extends and complements the on-going efforts in uplifting the cooperatives sector as the third engine of economic growth in Malaysia. It contributes towards enriching the knowledge of the relationship between sustainable development and sustainability and its influence towards the cooperative sector. It may also provide the building blocks for future studies that could explore the usefulness of these indicators to other business setting having a similar objective like the cooperatives.