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The purpose of the paper is to examine the financial health of selected public universities in Malaysia. The study assessed the performance of Malaysian research universities, on the primary reserve ratio, viability ratio, return on net asset ratio and net operating revenue ratio, as well as the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index for revenue diversification from 2010 to 2020. Results suggest poor financial health, high dependence on government funding and revenue volatility. Several universities recorded consecutive financial deficits in recent years. Third-stream revenues are low, and the universities are struggling to generate the 25% self-generated revenue target set by the government. This paper provides longitudinal empirical data on the financial health of public universities and has important implications for policymakers and university management in budget allocation and financial management decisions, particularly given the adverse financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to elicit perceptions of senior officers on the overall financial sustainability of their institutions; and, second, to examine senior officers' perceptions on important revenue diversification and cost management practices. Design/methodology/approach: The study employed a questionnaire survey with senior academic and administrative staff of the 20 public universities in Malaysia. In total, 275 questionnaires were distributed and 69 were returned, yielding a response rate of 25.09 per cent. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the general perceptions of the survey respondents on public university financial sustainability issues. Findings: The study suggests that respondents are receptive of the financial sustainability challenges faced by their institutions. Respondents agree that increasing tuition fees may not be a feasible revenue enhancement strategy for public universities. Instead, all respondents agree that full utilisation of resources will be a key strategy that the universities can apply. Originality/value: This study contributes to the limited research on the financial sustainability of public universities in developing countries. Findings of the study have implications for the financial management and governance of public universities in Malaysia and other countries facing similar fiscal challenges. The findings of the study also provide important empirical evidence for future work in the area.

Manuscript type: Research paper. Research aim: This study aims to identify the persuasive strategies applied by Bangladeshi companies in disclosing poverty related corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in their annual reports. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: This study applies the discourse analysis as an approach in exploring the narratives of Bangladeshi companies' annual reports. It specifically focuses on the three classifications of Aristotle's rhetoric while explanations are also drawn from the impression management theory. Research findings: This study concludes that the disclosures of the Bangladeshi companies' CSR activities are rhetorical in nature. The analysis suggests that these companies try to portray themselves as pro-social and helpful towards the poor. Theoretical contribution/ Originality: Rather than focusing on 'what' was disclosed (which is the objective of most prior studies on CSR reporting in Bangladesh), this study highlights 'how' the disclosure was done. This study also focuses on a particular aspect which is poverty related and a linguistic analysis is used to perform the analysis which is unlike previous studies. Practitioner/ Policy implication: This study calls for the participation of regulators and stakeholders in introducing appropriate regulations that can ensure a 'balanced' disclosure of the companies' CSR activities so that stakeholders are not misled. Research limitation: The main limitation of this research is that it focuses on only one kind of impression management strategies, namely rhetorical appeals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Islamic concept of accountability includes full disclosure of information to wider stakeholders, be it information on companies' financial or non-financial matters. The objective of this study was to examine the differences in perception between Muslim and non-Muslim fund managers regarding the usefulness of information on the environment in investment decision making. A questionnaire survey was used and 59 responses were received. No differences were found in perception between Muslim and non-Muslim fund managers related to several companies' environmental attributes and environmental information types. This implies that the Islamic worldview is not reflected in the perception of Muslim fund managers. This study makes a significant contribution to research in environmental reporting, particularly for companies and practitioners in Malaysia in the context of accountability in Islam. The study suggests some preliminary insights into the use of environmental information by Muslim and non-Muslim fund managers in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the budgetary participation and performance (BPP) relationship in a public sector organization in a developing country, Malaysia. It also attempts to examine whether organizational commitment and perception of innovation mediate the BPP relationship. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 111 budget managers in the Ministry of Defence, Malaysia, participated in the survey. Response rate was 74 per cent. A path analysis was utilised to examine the direct and indirect effects of budgetary participation on managerial performance. Findings - Budgetary participation affects managerial performance via the mediating variable of organizational commitment but not perception of innovation. There is a direct relationship between budgetary participation, managerial performance, organizational commitment and perception of innovation. Research limitations/implications - This is a study conducted in the Malaysian Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), thus results may not be generalizable to other organizations. It involves only two intervening variables; organizational commitment and perception of innovation and uses the intervening variable model to explain the budgetary participation and performance relationship. Budgetary participation improves managerial performance in MINDEF in two ways; directly, as a consequence of management involvement in the budgetary process, as well as indirectly, when managers' commitment to the organization increases due to their participation and involvement in the budgetary process. Originality/value - This paper fills a gap in the literature as very few studies have examined budgetary participation in a developing country and in a public sector organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]