Values are fundamental paradigms that shape attitudes and guide behaviour of human. Values shape morals, where morals help in shaping ethics. The first objective of this paper is to reviews values and ethics based on western and Islamic perspectives. The second objective specifically compares western and Islamic values. For comparison purposes, western values are represented by Schwartz values, while Islamic values are based on a study from Ghoniyah and Hartono (2014) and Ebrahimi and Yusoff (2017). Quran and Sunnah were referred to in highlighting the difference between the western and Islamic values. The analysis is done based on four dimensions, namely self-enhancement, openness to change, self-transcendence and conservation. The study finds that there are a lot of similarities between western and Islamic values. Both values have the same intention of nurturing better mankind.  However, there are two western values, namely “Power” and “Hedonism” that has no direct link with Islamic values. This is because, in Islam, Muslims believe that only Allah SWT has the ultimate will and power over life and death. Besides that, Islam encourages the attitude of promoting mashlahah rather than focusing on worldly pleasures. This paper adds to the literature and provides a comparison of values that would be beneficial to organizations and academic institutions in instilling values in their own setting

The objectives of this paper are: to examine the moderating effect of government ownership on the relationship between women directors and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure; and to study the moderating effect of politicians on boards on the relationship between women directors and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. This paper gathered information from companies' annual reports for the year 2013. From a sample of 300 non-financial companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, this paper found that government ownership positively moderates women directors' effect on CSR disclosure, while politicians on boards negatively moderate the effect. Results of this study add to the literature on factors influencing women directors in their process of making decisions from the view of a developing country. As different variables of political connections affect CSR disclosure differently, companies may decide the most suitable situations to adapt to ensure the companies can perform at its best. The findings may further alert policy makers to establish special provision of the appointment on board of directors with political interest.

Financial reporting quality has been under scrutiny especially after the collapse of major companies. The main objective of this study is to investigate the audit committee's effectiveness on the financial reporting quality among the Malaysian GLCs following the transformation program. In particular, the study examined the impact of audit committee characteristics (independence, size, frequency of meeting and financial expertise) on earnings management in periods prior to and following the transformation program (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009). As of 31 December 2010, there were 33 public-listed companies categorized as Government-Linked Companies (GLC Transformation Policy, 2010) and there were 20 firms that have complete data that resulted in the total number of firm-year observations to 120 for six years (years 2003-2009). Results show that the magnitude of earnings management as proxy of financial reporting quality is influenced by the audit committee independence. Agency theory was applied to explain audit committee, as a monitoring mechanism as well as reducing agency costs via gaining competitive advantage in knowledge, skills, and expertise towards financial reporting quality. The study is important as it provides additional knowledge about the impact of audit committees effectiveness on reducing the earnings management, and assist practitioners, policymakers and regulators such as Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Securities Commission and government to determine ways to enhance audit committees effectiveness and improve the financial reporting of GLCs, as well as improving the quality of the accounting profession.Abstrak: Kualitas pelaporan keuangan telah di bawah pengawasan, terutama setelah runtuhnya perusahaanperusahaan besar. Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui efektivitas komite audit pada kualitas pelaporan keuangan antara GLCs Malaysia yang mengikuti program transformasi. Secara khusus, studi ini meneliti dampak dari karakteristik komite audit (kebebasan, ukuran, frekuensi pertemuan dan keahlian keuangan) pada manajemen laba pada periode sebelum dan setelah program transformasi (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009) 288Keywords: audit committees; earnings management; GLCs transformation program; Malaysia pelaporan keuangan dipengaruhi oleh independensi komite audit. Teori keagenan diaplikasikan untuk menjelaskan komite audit, sebagai mekanisme pemantauan serta mengurangi biaya agensi melalui keunggulan kompetitif dalam pengetahuan, keterampilan, dan keahlian terhadap kualitas pelaporan keuangan yang diperolehnya. Penelitian ini penting karena memberikan pengetahuan tambahan tentang dampak efektivitas komite audit dalam mengurangi manajemen laba, dan membantu praktisi, pembuat kebijakan dan regulator seperti Institut Akuntan Malaysia, Komisi Efek dan pemerintah untuk menentukan cara untuk meningkatkan efektivitas komite audit dan meningkatkan pelaporan keuangan GLCs, serta meningkatkan kualitas profesi akuntansi.

No abstract

Financial inclusion is a priority agenda in many countries. While the importance of financial inclusion index is widely recognized, the literature lacks a constructive discussion on its measurement in the light of Islamic finance since it is believed that only by the incorporation of the Shariah-based instruments, the level of access to finance can be improved. The study aims to develop a methodology for the computation of an integrated Islamic finance-based index of financial inclusion in Malaysia. Based on the current measurement of financial inclusion index (IFI) in Malaysia, this study employs a self-administered questionnaire and secondary data from Jabatan Waqaf, Zakat dan Haji (JAWHAR) and Yayasan Waqaf Malaysia (YWM), to measure the integrated Islamic finance based financial inclusion index for year 2011 and 2015.  Zakat and cash waqf indicators are added in the index computation to represent Islamic finance components. Depending on the value of the index, a country is classified into four categories; high, above average, moderate or low integrated Islamic finance-based of financial inclusion. It is found that the level of financial inclusion using Islamic finance indicator in Malaysia is above average. The overall index level is increased from 0.49 in year 2011 to 0.55 in year 2015. Interestingly, most of the level of zakat and cash waqf indicator indexes are low which indicate that these channels require specific attention to tackle financial inclusion in Malaysia. It is hoped that the findings would be useful for the development of financial inclusion index using Islamic finance approach and monitoring the impact of zakat and waqf to the society.