Public Private Partnership (PPP)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine factors influencing the readiness of public sector accountants to implement the accrual accounting system in the Malaysian Federal Government. The readiness was measured in terms change commitment and change efficacy. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a questionnaire survey that comprises three factors (change valence, task knowledge and task availability) in predicting readiness to implement the accrual accounting system. Multiple regressions were performed on a total of 165 usable responses received. Findings The results reveal that change valence, task knowledge and task availability are significant and positively influence the change efficacy of the Federal Government to implement accrual accounting in Malaysia. However, only change valance is a positively significant factor in influencing change commitment. Originality/value This study is important as it contributes not only by adding to the scant literature assessing the readiness to implement the accrual accounting system but also by providing useful information on determinants of readiness for accrual accounting implementation in supporting the Malaysian Government’s financial transformation agenda.

Purpose -The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of personal attributes, organizational ethics position and other factors which are rules conformance, active participation in profession activities, ethics instructions received and understanding of the professional code of conduct on the Malaysian accountants' judgment on questionable ethical scenarios.Design/methodology/approach -A survey questionnaire is carried out to elicit opinions of Malaysian accountants on factors influencing ethical judgments.Findings -Adopting 15 vignettes used in Emerson et al. to assess ethical judgments, the main findings revealed from the analysis are that older accountants, accountants attached to corporations with higher ethics scale and accountants who understand the professional code of conduct are expected to be stricter in judging questionable ethical situations.Practical implications -The findings imply that perhaps one way to promote and preserve ethical organizational decisions is by employing older and experienced individuals and perhaps retaining older staff. The finding on age appears to suggest that wisdom comes with maturity.Originality/value -This paper is one of the few studies which investigate factors influencing ethical judgments of accountants in Malaysia. The research is timely given the growing importance of women in decision-making levels, the expected rise in employment and the requirement to include the business ethics course in the accounting programs in Malaysia.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to study two objectives. First, it intends to scrutinize the challenges in implementing Public Private Partnership (PPP) by examining the factors that hinder the successful adoption of PPP in Malaysia. Second, it aims to investigate the differences in the perceptions of the government and the private sector pertaining to the hindrance factors. Design/methodology/approach -A questionnaire survey was used to elicit the perceptions of the public and private sectors concerning the constraints of PPP implementation in Malaysia. A total of 122 usable responses were obtained, which were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. The mean score and mean score ranking were used to examine the importance of the hindrance factors based on the overall responses as well as on the respective responses of the public and the private sectors. An independent sample t-test was used to examine the differences in the perceptions between the two sectors. Findings -The overall results show that "lengthy delays in negotiation", "lack of government guidelines and procedures on PPP", "higher charge to direct users", "lengthy delays because of political debate" and "confusion over government objectives and evaluation criteria" are the top five constraints for adopting PPP in Malaysia. In terms of the differences in the perceptions between the public and private sector groups, the statistical test results indicate that there are only significant differences in the perceptions for two hindrance factors. Originality/value -The paper contributes to the existing literature on PPP, which is currently limited, by focusing on the challenges of implementing PPP in a developing country (i.e. Malaysia). More importantly, this paper provides evidence concerning the differences in the opinion of two key players (i.e. the government and the private sector) on the PPP hindrance factors.

Purpose -This paper aims to identify the influence of personal factors on the ethical judgement of future accountants in Malaysia. In particular, there are two research objectives for this study: first, to investigate the influence of ethical ideology on the ethical judgement of accounting students and second, to investigate the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on ethical judgement.Design/methodology/approach -The respondents of the study were final year undergraduate accounting students from three public universities in Malaysia. A survey questionnaire comprising instruments about ethical ideology, EI and ethical judgement was distributed. A total of 205 responses were received and were deemed as useable. To achieve the research objectives, multiple regression was performed.Findings -The findings indicate that idealism and EI have a positive influence on the ethical judgement. In contrast, the study discovered that relativism influences ethical judgement negatively.Originality/value -This study fills the research gap as research on personal factors on the ethical judgement of future accountants is very limited and scarce. It gives insights to the various parties concerning how to enhance ethical judgement among future accountants, which ultimately will improve the credibility of the accounting profession.

Due to relatively new establishment of islamic bank in Thailand and paucity of empirical research undertaken in the area, this study intends to capture the perceptions of Thai customers towards the objectives and characteristics of the islamic bank. In addition, this study aims to determine the important bank selection criteria as perceived by the customers and the differences in the perceptions of moslem and non-moslem customers were identified. The study surveys a sample of 462 respondents. The empirical findings show that the Thai customers know that the essential characteristic of the islamic bank is interest prohibition. They tend to support the idea that the islamic bank should strive to achieve its social objectives more than the commercial objectives. In addition, the results showed that there are differences between the Thai moslem and non-moslem customers’ preferences toward various bank selection criteria. The moslems highly considered the interest-free saving facilities, while the non-moslems tended to concern more about its reputation and image, and knowledgeable and competent personnel.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to investigate the factors forcing the implementation of public private partnerships (PPP) in Malaysia. Second, the study intends to compare the driving forces for PPP implementation in Malaysia to the UK. Design/methodology/approach – Using a questionnaire survey, 122 responses were received from respondents in Malaysia and the responses were analysed using descriptive analysis, which included the mean and mean score ranking. In comparing to the driving factors in the UK, evidence from prior studies that adopted a similar questionnaire instrument was obtained and analysed. Findings – The results show that the top three driving forces for PPP implementation in Malaysia are “economic development pressure of demanding more facilities”, “private incentive” and “shortage of government funding”. Although comparison of the results between the two countries found that both countries regarded all the factors, to some extent, as important, different countries have a different priority for each of the driving forces. The findings imply that the unique nature of PPP in different countries is reflected in the different motivation factors of each country to implement PPP. Originality/value – The present study not only offers insights on the key driving forces for PPP implementation in Malaysia but also useful information on the comparison of motivation factors to the pioneer of PPP implementation (i.e. the UK).

Purpose -The purpose of this paper are twofold. First, it aims to investigate the factors that enhance the VFM achieved from PPP projects in Malaysia. Second, it aims to examine the differences in the perceptions of public and private sectors pertaining to the VFM factors of PPP implementation in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach -A questionnaire survey was used to elicit the perceptions of the public and private sectors concerning the VFM drivers for PPP projects in Malaysia; 122 usable responses were obtained and analysed using SPSS to rank the importance of the factors and to examine the differences in the perceptions between the government and private sectors. Findings -The results reveal that two factors are perceived as "most important" to enhance the achievement of VFM for PPP implementation in Malaysia -"private sector technical innovation" and "competitive tender". In terms of the differences in the perceptions of the public and private sectors concerning the level of importance of the VFM drivers, the results reveal that there are significant differences for half of the VFM factors. Originality/value -The exclusive contribution of this paper is that it highlights not only the factors that enhancing the VFM achievement for PPP projects in Malaysia, but also offers evidence concerning the differences in the perceptions of public and private sectors pertaining to the importance of the VFM factors.