• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Political influence, corporate governance and financial reporting quality : evidence from companies in Malaysia : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Accountancy at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

    Icon
    View/Open Full Text
    02_whole.pdf (4.052Mb)
    01_front.pdf (514.5Kb)
    Export to EndNote
    Abstract
    This study investigates the relationship between political influence, corporate governance and financial reporting quality using Malaysian data spanning 1999-2003. The study builds upon agency theory, analysing the conflicting incentives of politicians, shareholders and managers, and how they affect governance and financial reporting. Four hypotheses are put forward: (1) Political influence is associated with lower financial reporting quality; (2) Political influence is associated with weaker corporate governance; (3) After controlling for political influence, weak corporate governance is associated with low financial reporting quality; and (4) Corporate governance mediates the relationship between political influence and financial reporting quality. In addition, knowledge obtained from interviews of top managers from several companies is used to look further at the influence of politics in managerial decision-making, particularly in relation to governance structure, accounting and reporting. Malaysia offers an interesting and important case study of relationship-based capitalism. Malaysian companies are regarded as politically sensitive, they are highly concentrated, and government participation in equity ownership is significant. One advance is that this study uses three observable proxies for political influence: government ownership, the presence of politician/s on the board, and the existence of a golden share giving special rights to the government. It appears that political influence is not a single construct. The findings support previous studies only if political influence is defined as the presence of politician/s on the board. Government ownership improves both governance and reporting quality, contrary to the findings of most previous studies. Having a golden share is not associated with governance or financial reporting quality. These findings suggest that institutional details matter when considering the effect of political influence on corporate governance and financial reporting. Findings from interviews provide a rich source of support for some of the quantitative findings, and new details on the complexity of the relationship between governments, boards and managers. Overall, the study provides insights and additional guidance for regulators and policy makers, for improving the design of corporate governance features and financial reporting frameworks as well as for deciding on the level of involvement of government and politicians in business The contrasts with findings of earlier studies in Western economies suggest opportunities for future research to understand the sources of the differences.
    Date
    2009
    Author
    Md Salleh, Mohd Fairuz Bin
    Rights
    The Author
    Publisher
    Massey University
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10179/3633
    Collections
    • Theses and Dissertations
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2023.7-7
     

     

    Information PagesContent PolicyDepositing content to MROCopyright and Access InformationDeposit LicenseDeposit License SummaryTheses FAQFile FormatsDoctoral Thesis Deposit

    Browse

    All of MROCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2023.7-7