This study investigates the anticipated and the actual use of capital raised from initial public offering (IPO) in Malaysia. The descriptive analysis shows that companies anticipate the use of capital mainly for growth opportunities (47%), working capital (27%), debt repayment (12%) and listing expenses (13%). Further analysis indicates that 54% of IPO companies have dedicated more than 50% of the amount of capital raised for growth opportunities. Very few companies planned to use the capital raised for research and development (R&D) and marketing activities. The regression results also confirm that the anticipated use of capital for R&D and marketing have no significant relationship with total amount of capital raised. In addition, a content analysis of the chairmen's statements and the section dedicated for actual use of capital raised in the annual reports reveal that majorly 73 out of 121 companies' exhibit changes in the anticipated use of capital raised. Therefore, this study concludes that relevant parties in the IPO process (e.g., regulators, issuers, financial intermediaries and investors) should pay close attention to the anticipated and actual use of capital raised.

This study examines the impact of academic directors on IPO initial returns. With a sample of 208 Malaysian IPOs over the period of 2005 to 2015 and applying a quantile regression (QR) technique, this study finds that the academic directors are significantly and negatively associated with IPO initial returns, indicating IPOs with more directors from the academia can better serve as a signal of a company's quality. Such directors are perceived by potential investors as intellectuals capable of providing knowledgeable skills in complex decision-making, like IPO, as well as advising and monitoring the management. These findings indicate that IPO issuers can demonstrate their quality through a highly educated board.

The paper proposes a framework that captures the impact of board capital on bank assets quality (BAQ) in the Nigerian banking industry. The paper reviews literature on various corporate governance’mechanisms that are instrumental to BAQ, specifically banks’ non-performing loans (NPLs). Based on the review, this study finds that common variables examined by literature are board size, independence and gender. The study also reveals that limited studies exist on the role of human and social capital of the banks’ board of directors. Therefore, evaluating boards’ human and social capital is likely to capture wider-range of boards’ resources, abilities, and chances of exercising control over the rising NPLs figures. In view of this emphasis, this study advocates the use of agency and resource dependence as well as the human capital theories to examine boards’ influence on NPLs. This is because the human and social capital of the board of directors play vital role in the resources needed by directors to function effectively and develop strategies needed for banks to ensure that their loan portfolios are of good quality.

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The corona virus disease (COVID-19) is a dreaded threat to human beings today. This is because the virus has already killed millions of people without regard for who the person is. This article discusses the measures for the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, which have been implemented by the government and the social responsibility of people according to the Islamic perspective, based on the principles of maqasid sharicah. The benefits of prevention over treatment and screening tests for COVID-19 are also discussed, based on secondary information obtained from the mass media, books on religion and websites. This article finds that the prevention of the transmission of COVID-19 falls under the principle of al-Dharuriyat, which is to preserve life. It is the responsibility of the government to preserve the lives of the people to ensure that they can live in peace and tranquility. One of the measures implemented by the government is the imposition of the Movement Control Order (MCO). In this regard, complying with the instructions to always be at home is a social responsibility that needs to be adhered to, to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This is because prevention is always better than cure. Every individual is encouraged to undergo screening test at the designated health centres. Individuals tested positive for COVID-19 are quarantined and undergo rehabilitation in patient treatment units. Through these screening tests, the COVID-19 chain can be broken. The quarantine of patients is in line with the instructions of the Prophet SAW to separate positive COVID-19 patients from healthy people. ABSTRAK Pandemik virus corona (COVID-19) merupakan ancaman yang amat ditakuti oleh manusia pada masa kini. Ini kerana wabak berkenaan boleh meragut jutaan nyawa manusia tanpa mengira latar belakang dan keturunan. Artikel ini membincangkan tentang pencegahan penularan COVID-19 yang telah dilaksanakan oleh pemerintah dan tanggungjawab sosial menurut perspektif Islam, berdasarkan prinsip maqasid syaricah. Kelebihan pencegahan berbanding pengubatan dan ujian saringan sebagai pencegahan penularan rantaian COVID-19 juga dibincangkan. Perbincangan di dalam artikel ini adalah berdasarkan maklumat sekunder yang diperolehi daripada media massa, kitab-kitab agama dan laman-laman sesawang. Artikel ini mendapati pencegahan penularan COVID-19 adalah tergolong dalam prinsip al-Daruriyat, iaitu memelihara nyawa. Sebagai pemerintah, adalah menjadi tanggungjawab kerajaan memelihara nyawa masyarakat bagi memastikan rakyat hidup dalam keadaan aman dan tenteram. Salah satu tanggungjawab pemerintah yang telah dilaksanakan ialah dengan mengenakan Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP). Manakala, mematuhi arahan untuk sentiasa berada di rumah merupakan tanggungjawab sosial yang perlu dilakukan bagi mencegah penularan COVID-19. Ini kerana mencegah jangkitan virus corona adalah lebih baik daripada berusaha untuk menyembuhkannya. Setiap individu digalakkan untuk membuat ujian saringan di pusat-pusat kesihatan yang telah disediakan. Manakala, individu yang didapati positif COVID-19 perlu dikuarantin dan menjalani pemulihan di unit-unit rawatan pesakit. Melalui ujian saringan tersebut pencegahan rantaian COVID-19 dapat direalisasikan. Kaedah pelaksanaan kuarantin ini adalah selari dengan arahan Rasulullah SAW supaya diasingkan pesakit yang positif COVID-19 dengan orang sihat