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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the undergraduate students' performance in the Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya and the factors influencing the performance of the undergraduate students. Design/methodology/approach: The performance of the undergraduate students in this study is measured by their cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in the final semester. In this study, the students' demographic profile, entry qualifications and the subjects taken by the students in pre-university level are used as the predictor variable for the students' performance in the degree programme. Findings: The result of the study shows that the predictor variables do explain the variance in the students' final CGPA. In addition, it was found that knowledge prior to entering the university such as economics, mathematics and accounting is crucial in assisting the students in undertaking the courses in both business and accounting programme. The study also found that female students perform better than male students; whilst Chinese students perform better than Malay and Indian students. Research limitations/implications: The implications of this study for the academics in universities and schools are also discussed in the paper. This paper, however, does not look into variables other than students' past performance prior to entering the university that may have an influence over the students' performance in the university. Hence, this aspect may be examined in future researches. Originality/value: This paper will be useful to the academic communities, the public and other interested parties who are interested in improving students' performance during their periods of study in the universities. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables, and 6 notes.)

The performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has been subjected to a wide range of debate around the globe. In Malaysia, SOEs or government-linked companies (GLCs) play a significant role in shaping the economy. This study investigates whether GLCs with large debts suffer from poor financial performance as proposed by Public Choice Theory, and whether corporate governance mechanisms and board diversity as suggested by Agency Theory and Human Capital Theory can moderate the impact of debt on the GLCs’ financial performance. Utilizing longitudinal data from 20 largest GLCs listed on Bursa Malaysia from 2005 to 2019, our results show that the negative relationship between leverage and financial performance is not statistically significant, hence Public Choice Theory is not supported. CEO duality is found to significantly exacerbate the negative relationship between leverage and financial performance, while a higher proportion of independent directors attenuate, thus supporting Agency Theory. We also found that ethnic diversity weakens the negative relationship between leverage and financial performance, supporting the presumption in Human Capital Theory that diversity in personalities strengthen organizational performance. This study offers theoretical and policy implications surrounding corporate governance practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research aims: This study examines the effect of board characteristics on earnings management and the moderating effect of gender diversity over this nexus by investigating 393 Bursa Malaysia listed companies from 2014 to 2018. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study applies the performance-adjusted Jones model (Dechow et al., 1996) and the performance-matched Jones model (Kothari et al., 2005) to measure accrual-based earnings management. Research findings: Based on the results, the agency theory fails to illustrate that board characteristics (i.e., defined by the attributes of board independence, board size, and non-CEO duality) are effective in reducing earnings management. On the other hand, the results show that gender diversity in independent directorship and board membership apparently reduces the level of earnings management. However, this research finds no significant moderating effect of gender diversity on the relationship between CEO duality and earnings management. Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study adds to the literature by demonstrating that the application of agency theory does not have a significant impact on reducing earnings management in the Malaysian context. Applying gender socialisation theory, the findings of this study show successful moderation of gender diversity in terms of reducing the level of earnings management. Practitioner/Policy implication: The results on gender diversity are likely of interest to policymakers to come up with regulations related to ensuring an increasing presence of female directors in the boardrooms to increase the board gender diversity. Research limitation: This study examines only three board characteristics under corporate governance, and measures only accrual-based earnings management. Moreover, the sample is restricted to only non-financial listed companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]