No abstract

Nowadays, technology has affected all sectors. Many companies have taken serious initiatives to transform their businesses into digital business models. For good communication with investors, a well-governed company will voluntarily disclose how it integrates digitalisation into the business. This study explored how Malaysian public listed companies from the consumer sector, had voluntarily disclosed information related to digitalisation in their annual reports. A qualitative research is employed, and a content analysis was utilised to examine the annual reports. Malaysian listed companies from the consumer products and services sector were selected based on a purposive sampling. A content analysis was also employed to analyse the data manually. This study finds the most common sections used for the disclosure of digitalisation-related information are management reports, corporate information, and sustainability reports. The other sections are corporate governance report, digital governance, and risk management. Disclosures of digitalisation-related information mostly involved several business themes such as marketing, business strategy, business process, product offered and corporate sustainability and governance. The research findings provide insights into voluntary disclosures related to digitalisation among Malaysian listed companies.

Accounting is important for a business of any sizes to keep well-organized and up-to-date accounting records for their daily transactions. It helps businesses to plan and manage financial matters more effectively. However, most of the small business owners do not keep proper books of accounts since there is no legal obligation to do that. Moreover, they also perceive accounting as a very difficult process due to its technical difficulties. Thus, it is quite hard for the small business owners to monitor the financial status/growth and also obtaining financial assistance from third parties. Hence, this study examines the extent of accounting literacy which focuses on accounting records and financial management among small business owners in Jasin district. 51 small business owners responded to the questionnaire distributed. Findings of this study revealed that, in terms of accounting records, majority of the small business owners do not have proper record keeping and do not concern on separation of business and personal transactions. Besides, almost 70% of them did not maintain any financial reports for the business. In terms of financial management, most of the owners use selffinancing in running the business since they are worried they cannot afford the loan commitments. Apart from that, it might be difficult for them to apply for a loan due to no proper business record and financial reports prepared for the business. These results indicate that accounting literacy is still very weak among the small business owners in Jasin district.

Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) emphasizes that the country has a pool of resources to steer towards Malaysia's aspirations to become a developed and high-income nation. The ETP Roadmap highlights accountancy, an integral function in all businesses as part of the significant ETP driver. However, Malaysia still lacks the required number of qualified accountants by the year 2020. This challenges higher learning institutions to produce suitable accounting graduates. Despite taking an accounting subject in schools, not all these students later opt to enrol accounting in higher learning institutions as many factors influence their career choices. This study aims to explore these motivating factors. A quantitative approach was applied whereby primary data were collected through a questionnaire survey. Respondents were students from seven elite schools in Melaka. The study found eight motivating factors; family members in the accounting profession, public accountant as a career choice, students' interest in receiving relevant information, choosing private accountants as a career, parents, school counsellor and career talk. However, only four of these factors were significant to students' decisions to pursue professional accounting courses. In addition, parents' influence plays a greater role in motivating students to opt for professional accounting courses as compared to an accounting degree.

Accounting is perceived as a complicated process due to its technical difficulties. However, accounting knowledge is undeniable essential to complete a business plan. The ‘Simplified Accounting Template for Apprentice’ (SATA) is developed to facilitate students especially non-accounting students who have very little accounting knowledge in preparing proforma financial statements at the financial section in the business plan. SATA act as integral part of technology used in accounting education to improve students’ understanding on accounting and help them to complete the business plan. The objective of this paper is to access the level of students’ understanding on accounting with the introduction of SATA in teaching and learning which finally can assist them to prepare financial statements. A hands-on workshop was conducted by accounting lecturers in UiTM Malacca Branch Jasin Campus on SATA to assist the students in completing the business plan for financial section. A questionnaire was given at the end of the workshop to the students to gather their feedback related on SATA and give their perceptions using SATA in preparing financial statements. This study found that more than 80% respondents admitted that SATA improved their understanding on accounting terms such as terms of non-current assets, non-current liabilities, sales, purchases, 85% agreed that SATA took lesser time to prepare financial statements, 90% found that SATA was very easy to use as compared to manually prepared the financial statements and facilitates in analyzing financial performance and 91% agreed that SATA really help them in completing their business plan particularly in financial section. On overall most of respondents admitted that SATA increase their understanding in preparing financial statements. This study also revealed that most of the respondents understand the component of Statement of Profit or Loss and Statement of Financial Position embedded in SATA.