Purpose The purpose of this study is threefold: first, to detect trends in financial statement manipulation; second, to measure the level of manipulation and to measure the variation in manipulation between countries; and, third, to identify widely used techniques in financial statements manipulation. Design/methodology/approach This study uses financial data of listed companies from Asia, namely, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China. The study adopts financial ratios, financial forensic tool, dichotomous approach and statistical tools to analyze the data (84,000 observations) over a period of four years from 2010 to 2013. Findings The results show that 34 per cent of sample companies in selected Asian countries are involved in the manipulation of financial statements; the average level of manipulation (overall manipulation index) is 72 per cent; and there is a significant difference between countries at 5 per cent level. The study also identifies four most commonly used techniques, namely: days’ sales in receivable (DSRI), depreciation (DEPI), assets quality (AQI) and total accruals to total assets (TATA). Research limitations/implications Although this study found a significant national difference between countries in terms of practicing manipulation in financial statements, it did not address the issue of why some countries have higher level of manipulation and greater fluctuations in manipulation than others. Further study could be conducted to look for the reasons on these issues. Practical implications Investors and other stakeholders are advised to judge the manipulation in financial statements before fixing up for investment. At least they should examine Sales, Accounts Receivable, Depreciation, Value of Fixed Assets and Accruals data before accepting the financial statement in good faith. Social implications The trend of manipulation in financial statements is increasing day by day and that is why it needs to prevent to protect our society from white collar crime. The cost of white collar crime is much higher and key executives are making money at the expense of investors and other stakeholders. This kind of study creates awareness among stakeholders about the manipulation as well as provides techniques to examine the faithfulness of financial statements. Then, managers will not overstate or understate either revenues or expenses easily, as it can damage the goodwill. Originality/value This is the first study of its kind addressing measurement of manipulation score, overall manipulation index (OMI) and identification of widely used variables of manipulation in financial statements are new contributions towards existing literature of earnings manipulation.

Cybercrime is a criminal (unethical and unlawful) activities using internet facilities such as virus infections, identity theft and hacking. There is high risk of becoming a victim especially for young internet user. The purpose of this study is to protect them by providing empirical evidence to the policy makers in combating cybercrime. The study examines the relationship between perception and gender, age and knowledge as well as the relationship between awareness and gender, age and knowledge towards cybercrime. A field survey is conducted among 342 students in the faculty of accountancy of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) with a structured questionnaire that covers demographic information and seven most known cybercrimes. Percentile analysis, correlation matrix, multivariate regressions are done to test the hypotheses. In addition, Post Hoc test is conducted to locate where the significant differences lies. The study finds: (1) Female students are more aware and have affirmative insights than male, (2) students in the age group of 18-23 years have lower perception and awareness than those aged 24 years and above and (3) those with higher academic qualifications are more aware at cybercrime and perceived the issue of risk differently. The study provides empirical evidence to the top management of the higher level institutions on the needs to improve their policies and procedures to protect young generation reducing the high risk of becoming a victim.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between financial strength or condition and managerial practices in preparing financial statements of public limited companies. The objectives of this study are threefold – to measure the financial strength, to measure integrity index and to examine the relationship between management practices and financial strength. Design/methodology/approach Financial ratios, Altman’s Z-Score, integrity index, ranking approach and chi-square test are used to achieve the objectives. A multi-year cross-country analysis is done by considering sample of seven Asian countries, namely, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and Japan. Findings The study catches the relationship between management practices and financial strength across sample countries. Management practices is one of the responsible factors for this relationship. They use discretionary power in preparing financial statements to control the trading results. The principles of accounting do not support the alteration of financial data to look the company better on paper. The cost of financial statement fraud is higher than other occupational fraud. Research limitations/implications This study does not cover factors other than management practices and further study could be conducted to look for the other reasons that may also responsible for the deviations. Practical implications Conflict of interest between shareholders and board of directors is not a new phenomenon. Auditing system is introduced to minimize this conflict of interest, but they failed to uphold their position in reality. Management also needs to prove their integrity in financial statements. Ethical consideration is the highest priority. Social implications Stakeholders, especially regulators, professional bodies and academics, should concentrate on the issue on ‘how to reduce the manipulation in financial statements’ to create a safe investments avenue for the nation. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidences regarding the influence of management practices on financial statements and financial strength of listed companies across countries. The culture, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, etc., are different from country to country. The aim is to contribute empirical evidence about the relationship between management practices and financial health in different settings. This study is first of its kind.

Government-linked companies (GLCs) play an essential role in the expansion of the Malaysian economy. GLCs are contributing a significant percentage of the nation’s gross capital formation and National Gross Domestic Product and they have been regarded as instruments of national growth and supplementing government’s effort in promoting social and economic goals. Nevertheless, the performance of GLCs remains as a major concern. Although many research have been done on organisations and enterprises there is lack of research done on GLCs’ performance. Previously, the performance of GLCs in Malaysia has been affected by the poor performance of its key companies such as Proton Holdings Berhad and Malaysia Airline System (MAS). Hence, this study attempts to examine on the effect of ethical culture practices, leadership qualities, entrepreneurship orientation, and innovation existence towards the performance of Malaysian GLCs. In this study, the data is gathered via questionnaires survey collected from 102 state and federal level GLCs. The results of coefficient of independent variables showed that leadership qualities and innovation are positively correlated with organisational performance. This study suggests to improve the performance of GLCs through emphasizing on leadership qualities and placing high emphasis on innovation.

The examination of the influence of firm's level CG on market capitalization is potentially important for managers to improve CG system in context of Bangladesh. The linear relationship between CG and market capitalization is recognized at one percent level of significance. A positive and significant relationship between board independence and market capitalization is identified. On the other hand, a negative and significant relationship between public ownership and market capitalization is detected by the model. The present practice of CG does not capable to bring back the eroded confidence of external shareholders. The study recommend some steps for improve the situation such as at least two independent directors or onethird whichever is higher, mandatory training for directors to improve their mindset, introduce audit review system, introduce VFM review mechanism, establishing a high powered financial reporting council (FRC) and so on.