This paper aims to investigate the influence of board characteristics on firm performance. The four boards of directors’ characteristics that are of interest in this paper are: CEO duality, independent directors (ID), board size (BS) and board meeting (BM). Return on Assets (ROA) and Earnings per Share (EPS) are used as measurements for firm performance. Data were collected from secondary sources based on a purposively selected sample of 341 Malaysian Public Listed Companies throughout the period ranging from 2003 to 2013. The data were analyzed using the panel data regression model. Results of testing the influences between board characteristics and firm performance are found to be mixed. For example, board meetings showed weak and negative influences on firm performance while independent directors had weak and positive influences only on ROA. Based on the findings of this study, it has been observed that the present listing requirements, which aligned with the assumptions of agency theory, by the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) and by the Bursa Malaysia requirements, might not be effective as expected in enhancing future firm performance.

This paper investigates the influence of accounting information systems (AIS) on firms’ performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they help enhance employees’ performance and the external auditing process. This paper is qualitative in nature using the inductive approach. In-depth primary data were gathered through semi-structured interviews conducted in the year 2020. Due to the pandemic, the interviews with ten auditors were done online through the Zoom software application. The empirical findings of this paper show a positive impact of AIS on firms’ performance and a more significant influence on employees’ performance and the auditing process. AIS reduces costs and human errors, eases operations, speeds up work tasks, and increases employees’ productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also show that there is no direct impact on firms’ overall cash flow/revenues. This paper increases our understanding of how AIS can influence and improve firms’ performance and the significance of implementation factors such as training. It provides practical guidelines for regulators and managers to utilize accounting information systems to perform better.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Abstract The present study is intended to scholarly explore

The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the barriers to the balanced scorecard (BSC) implementation in the Sudanese banking sector. To achieve the research objective a qualitative approach is used. The research data were gathered by conducting 12 semi-structured interviews with the managers and senior staff of 10 banks working in Sudan. The findings of this research demonstrated that the major barriers of the BSC implementation in the Sudanese banking sector are as follows: absence of top management motivation and commitment, lack of awareness, lack of training, the high cost of the BSC implementation, the claim of current system sufficiency, difficulties in measuring BSC perspectives, and insufficient IT support. The findings suggest that the top management of the banking sector should be encouraged by the Central Bank of Sudan to consider using the BSC as a priority and include it within their strategic plans, initiate budgets and other resources for better BSC implementation (Gowindasamy & Jantan, 2018). This study contributes to the literature and practice in the field of management accounting by outlining the barriers to implementing the BSC in the banking sector located in a developing African country. The information obtained can enhance our understanding of BSC implantation in emerging economies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the change in management accounting and control systems (MACSs) within two large public manufacturing companies in Libya so-called Trucks and Buses Company (TBC) and National Trailers Company (NTC). The paper is based on semi-structured interviews, an analysis of documents and observations. It draws on New Institutional Sociology (NIS) perspective (DiMaggio and Powell’s 1983) as theoretical framework to provide explanations regarding how the MACS in the two companies were shaped by various factors. The main factors identified in shaping the operations of the MACS were the need to comply with the political pressures, the Libyan Government’s laws and regulations, the instructions imposed by the management committee in both companies, leading organizations’ pressures (ISO), customer satisfaction (coercive isomorphism), the influence of professional associations (normative isomorphism) and the need to imitate efficient organizations in order to be more legitimate and successful (mimetic isomorphism). The findings of the study have implications for understanding the operations of MACS in developing countries. Future research could focus on alternative theoretical perspectives for the investigation of the process of change in MACS such as structuration theory, agency theory and actor-network theory. The proposed theoretical framework provides insights into the process of change by focusing on the interplay between the institutional forces, market forces and intra – organizational power relationships to overcome the criticism of NIS that it downplays the role of market forces and intra – organizational power relations.