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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the intellectual capital (IC) information reported in the annual reports and market value of the companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange.

The study is based on a panel data collected from the annual reports and Bloomberg database for six years, specifically the periods 2010-2012 and 2016-2018. The total sample consists of 252 observations. The theoretical framework was developed in reference to the resource-based theory. The regression model is based on Ohlson’s model, which has been modified by including IC information.

The study found that there is a significant relationship between IC information and firm market value. This finding indicates that companies report their IC to help the stakeholders (e.g. shareholders, investors) to understand the real value of the company (which includes IC values).

The shift to a knowledge-based economy (KBE) has made knowledge a driver for economic growth, and it has become more important than capital, land and labour. This shift makes IC and resources vital for companies to create wealth, value and gain competitive advantage. The State of Qatar plans to transform its economy to a KBE in its “Qatar Vision 2030”. The findings of the study show that the companies have started to depend more on IC to contribute to transforming Qatar’s economy to a KBE.

This study could be considered a pioneer study to examine the association of IC disclosure and firm value in Qatar. Furthermore, prior literature has mixed findings, which justifies further investigation of IC’s effect on market value, particularly in the emerging economy of Qatar.

This paper aims to determine whether the “true and fair view override” (TFVO) principle is relevant and applicable in Islamic accounting. In addition, the paper examines the roles that TFVO could play in Islamic accounting and auditing.

A qualitative research method was used based on documentary and textual analysis of the Shari’ah fundamentals (Islamic legal sources) and relevant accounting standards and regulations.

The paper found that the TFVO is relevant and applicable in Islamic accounting and auditing and not contradictory to the rules of the Shari’ah. Therefore, the concept is acceptable for use in Islamic accounting. Moreover, based on the several roles played by the TFVO, in the Islamic context, the practicality of this concept in Islamic accounting provides further justification for its continued usage.

The findings of the paper provide a basis to support the inclusion of the TFVO in Islamic accounting standards, as well as possible usage by Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). Thus, regulators of IFIs and Islamic accounting standards setting bodies can consider it in their challenging task of standardizing accounting practices due to the different interpretations of transactions from the various Madhahib and multiple accounting concepts and practices. In addition, the discussion in the paper reminds accountants and auditors of IFIs and Islamic organizations that providing a true and fair view (TFV) is paramount; thus an override of inapplicable accounting standards and regulation is allowed, but not Shari’ah. Thus, TFVO can assist accountants to record transactions that reflect the economic reality of the IFIs, especially prior to accounting regulations keeping pace with the rapid business environment.

The paper has highlighted a very important issue relating to the TFV, specifically the TFVO, from the Islamic perspective. The paper is considered as the first paper that contextually analyses this issue based on Islamic legal sources using a qualitative approach. In addition, the paper has contributed to the literature in Islamic accounting and auditing.

The objective of this paper is to examine the determinants (i.e. firm size, profitability, leverage, type of audit firm and industry type) of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure in the annual reports of Malaysian listed companies.

The data were collected from the 2006 annual reports of the selected listed companies; and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t‐test, correlation and regression analyses.

The paper found that firm size, profitability, industry type are determinants of IC disclosure (ICD) in the annual reports of Malaysian listed companies, while leverage and type of audit firm did not statistically influence ICD.

The paper only used data from the 2006 annual reports. However, the findings have highlighted the importance of ICD determinants based on data from an emerging economy (i.e. Malaysian economy).

The paper provides empirical evidence on the current practices and determinants of ICD in the annual reports of the Malaysian listed companies. This evidence would help in understanding and determining factors that influence the extent of ICD. Subsequently, it could assist in enhancing ICD in the annual reports.

The paper contributes by extending the limited ICD literature in Malaysia. Furthermore, the paper has tested more determinants, deemed to influence ICD, compared to prior Malaysian studies. In addition, the paper used a larger sample size with a wider industry coverage compared to previous Malaysian literature.

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on the financial performance of Islamic banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The study measures IC by the value added intellectual coefficient model. A regression analysis was used to assess the impact of IC on financial performance. The research sample consisted of Islamic banks operating in the GCC countries during the years 2011, 2012 and 2013. Data originated from the annual reports of Islamic banks.

The results support the thesis that IC has a positive impact on the financial performance of Islamic banks. Even though the average IC is lower than that reported in other studies, the positive effect on financial performance is obvious. The findings also show that human capital (HC) is higher than capital employed (CE) and structural capital (SC). The study reveals that SC has an insignificant impact on the financial performance of the Islamic banks compared to CE and HC.

The findings provide empirical evidence that IC affects the Islamic banks’ financial performance. It helps Islamic banks in the GCC countries to understand how to use their IC efficiently, especially SC as it is yet to be used efficiently. Also, the findings benefit the relevant authorities (e.g. legislators and central banks) who could use them to emphasise strategic policy reforms whenever required.

The current research adds to the empirical studies in the GCC countries as it views the region as a collective as opposed to individual countries. It also extends the IC and performance measurement literature of Islamic banks in the GCC countries. Moreover, the current study enriches the limited literature on IC in the context of Islamic banking.

This study examines whether Shari’ah approved companies with majority Muslim directors adopt better corporate governance (CG) than non‐Shari’ah approved companies with majority non‐Muslim directors and whether the performance of the former is better than that of the latter. The objective of this study is to determine whether religious factor has an influence in adopting corporate governance mechanisms and in performance. Performance of the companies is measured in relation to three perspectives, namely, Shari’ah compliance, environmental performance, and social performance. This study used secondary data and the leading 50 firms were selected from each group based on their market capitalization for the year 2002. The proxies for good corporate governance are CEO non‐duality, the proportion of non‐executive directors on the board, and the proportion of independent non‐executive directors on the board. The proxies used to measure Shari’ah compliance are the ratio of prohibited income to total income and the ratio of prohibited expenses to total expenses. The variables used to measure the environmental and social performance are certification of ISO 14001 and OHsas 18001, respectively. The results generally showed that there is little significant difference between the CG and performance of Shari’ah approved companies with majority Muslim directors and non‐Shari’ah approved companies with majority non‐Muslim directors, although the former is marginally better for both, in a few instances.

This study investigates how the timeliness of financial reporting by listed companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is influenced by the interaction effect between industry-specialist auditors and board governance.

The Emirati capital markets – the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) – were used to obtain the data, which covered the seven-year period between 2011 and 2017. In total, 385 observations were obtained. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were the principal statistical tests employed using the panel data method.

The results of the direct effect tests reveal that board independence and industry-specialist auditors have no significant influence on financial reporting timeliness. Nevertheless, the results also show that the timeliness of financial reporting by listed companies in the UAE is influenced by the interaction effect between auditors' industry specialisation and the governance of firm boards. More specifically, the results reveal that financial reporting timeliness is positively associated with board independence for companies audited by industry-specialist auditors. This finding is consistent with the notion that industry-specialist auditors complement the role of effective board governance.

This study only focuses on secondary data from non-financial companies listed in the UAE markets. Therefore, the outcomes may not be generalisable to sectors related to finance. Future researchers are recommended to examine financial sectors and apply alternative measurements such as surveys or interviews with directorial boards and external auditors. Furthermore, this study used only one measure of industry-specialist auditors, while board governance was limited to board independence. Future studies could utilise different measurements for industry-specialist auditors and more board governance measures to obtain more robust findings.

The evidence provided indicates that when a company listed in the UAE has a high-quality board, it benefits by engaging auditors who specialise in the industry in terms of improving the timeliness of financial reporting. The findings also indicate the need for closer monitoring of management to safeguard their reputation. This might attract the attention of the Big Four audit firms and industry–specialist auditors to continuously re-evaluate their audit work, professional training and staff skills, while they might also try to differentiate their performance and monitoring capabilities from the non-Big Four audit firms and non-industry specialist auditors.

The main contribution of this study to the overall body of research is the concept that having independent directors is associated with improved reporting timeliness because financial reports are monitored with greater efficiency by industry–specialist auditors. This study provides evidence for the interaction effect between internal and external governance mechanisms on financial reporting quality, which has not been the focus of prior studies on financial reporting quality.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test Arnaud’s (2010) ethical climate index (ECI) of measuring ethical work climate (EWC) in the context of Malaysian public sector auditors (PSAs).

EWC is conceptualized as four main components with two sub-components. Questionnaires were distributed to the population of PSAs in the Malaysian National Audit Department (NAD). Factor analysis (principal component analysis [PCA]) was used to verify the components of EWC.

Results from PCA revealed that EWC, indeed, has four main components. Therefore, the findings of this study provide empirical evidence that validates Arnaud’s (2010) EWC model, although tested on PSAs in Malaysia.

This paper has a limited purpose, which is to test whether the ECI could be applied to PSAs in Malaysia to derive the original four main components of Arnaud’s EWC. Thus, this study does not evaluate the EWC of PSAs or determine causal relationships between EWC and other variables; these are left to future studies.

The findings of this study confirm that Arnaud’s (2010) ECI is sufficiently resilient to be applied to the context of PSAs in Malaysia. Hence, future studies could use this index to measure EWC not only in the public sector but also in the private sector. Future research could also further test this index in different contexts.

Arnaud’s (2010) ECI was originally applied in the context of the private sector in a developed country. Hence, this study adds value by extending the ECI to the public sector in a developing country, Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper are twofold. Firstly, it explores the extent to which ethical work climate (EWC) is prevalent among public sector auditors at the National Audit Department (NAD) of Malaysia. Secondly, it examines the relationship between EWC and the work-related ethical behaviour of public sector auditors in the NAD of Malaysia.

This study used a postal questionnaire survey, which was distributed to the public sector auditors in Malaysia. A total of 823 responses from public sector auditors in 213 audit teams was received, constituting a 66% and 78% response rate, respectively. To achieve the first research objective, the responses were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis, including mean values and mean value ranking. For the second objective, hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) statistical software was used for the cross-level data analysis.

The results reveal a moderate level of the overall EWC at the NAD. The overall EWC at the team level also has a positive significant influence on work-related ethical behaviour assessed at the individual level of auditors. In terms of the individual components of the EWC, multivariate regression analysis of HLM shows collective moral (CM) sensitivity and CM judgement have a significantly positive relationship with work-related ethical behaviour, whereas CM motivation has a negatively significant relationship with work-related ethical behaviour.

The empirical evidence on the level of EWC and its components implies that there is room for improvement in the ethical climate in the NAD. The finding is important for the NAD to design necessary measures to enhance the EWC, including tightening the auditors’ code of ethics and organizing ethics-related seminars, training and workshops for the auditors. The result on the positive influence of CM sensitivity and CM judgment of work-related ethical behaviour of public sector auditors is also crucial for the NAD to further inculcate moral sensitivity and moral judgment among the public sector auditors.

This study is among the initial research that uses Arnaud’s EWC model in assessing the influence of EWC on ethical behaviour, particularly in the context of public sector organization of a developing country, i.e. Malaysia.

The moral credibility of accountants has been battered for over two decades because of a seemingly unending series of accounting scandals. The inclusion of ethics education in the accounting curricula has been advocated as one option through which a new generation of morally competent accountants can be produced. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study that sought to determine the success of this strategy by measuring the moral competencies of 160 final-year Muslim accounting students enrolled in two Islamic-university accounting programs.

An open-ended, scenario-based, accounting-specific instrument was developed in collaboration with five Islamic accounting scholars to survey and measure the students’ moral competencies from an Islamic perspective.

The results revealed that the students had glaring weaknesses in their moral competencies, particularly in selecting an Islamically appropriate organization to work for after graduation and the importance of diligence in completing one’s task as an accountant. The implication of these results is that these accounting programs have to critically assess the ethical content of their curricula to ensure that it is capable of developing the moral competencies of these students to an excellent level.

The implication of these results is that these accounting programs have to critically assess the ethical content of their curricula to ensure that it is capable of developing the moral competencies of these students to an excellent level.

This paper is one of the few moral competence studies that consider the source of moral values of the respondents in measuring their moral competencies. Additionally, it provides much-needed insight into the effectiveness of a policy to address a pressing problem in the accounting profession.

This study aims to investigate the intellectual capital–financial performance relationship using two models, namely the conventional Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) model and the adjusted Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (A-VAIC) model.

This study is designed as a quantitative research focusing on the relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance of the banking industry in Indonesia. As many as 114 data are derived from the publicly listed banks on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period of 2012–2017. The multiple regression analysis is employed to test the hypotheses studied.

In general, the result confirms that intellectual capital affects financial performance. Although not all hypotheses of the study are supported by either the VAIC model or the A-VAIC model, the results provide a deeper and new insight on how each component of intellectual capital efficiency (human capital, structural capital, capital employed, innovation capital) relates to financial performance (return on asset, return on equity, asset turnover, price to book ratio). The results also justify that further improvements in measuring intellectual capital are still needed in the future.

This study limits its generalization since the sample is only in the Indonesian banking industry. Notwithstanding the limitation, the results imply that the Indonesian banking managers need to be aware of intellectual capital management because of its strategic role in enhancing financial performance.

This study contributes to the intellectual capital literature by providing empirical evidence on the use of both models, namely the conventional VAIC and the A-VAIC in the Indonesian banking industry research setting which is never been studied before.

This study has the social implication to the enhancement of the quality life of the society. The higher the quality of intellectual capital in the banking firms, the better the banks serve the needs of the community.

This study contributes to the IC literature by providing empirical research on the use of the VAIC model and the A-VAIC model in the Indonesian banking industry.