Auditors play a key role in contributing to the credibility of the financial statements on which they are reporting. High-quality audits support financial stability. The responsibility for performing quality audits of financial statements rests with the auditors. However, audit quality is best achieved in an environment where there is support from and appropriate interactions among participants in the financial reporting supply chain. Most prior studies look into audit quality from the perspective of private sector however this study focus on the quality of public sector auditing in Malaysia. There are three independent variables being investigated in this study that are the auditor’s independence, auditor’s competency and auditor’s workload. Data were collected through the distribution of questionnaires to 114 samples of auditors involved in public sector audit in Malaysia. The data were analysed using correlation test and regression test. The findings of this study show that there are positively significant relationship between auditor’s independence and auditor’s competency on audit quality. The results revealed that auditor’s competency is the most significant factor affecting the audit quality in public sector audit. However, results show that auditor’s workload has a negative and insignificant impact on audit quality. Hence, this study recommends that the audit departments to strengthen the audit quality and could improve the quality of the financial reporting in the public sector. In addition, auditor’s competency should be enhanced among the auditors in public sector to ensure high quality of audit work performed. Future studies should explore other variables such as client satisfaction, auditor switching and auditor’s turnover in public sector auditing.

This study examined Islamic banks' social performance by considering Intellectual Capital (IC) and Shariah Supervisory Boards (SSB) as antecedents. More specifically, it examined the antecedents that can exert the role of IC and governance mechanism of SSB in enhancing Islamic banks’ social performance. Therefore, this study empirically analyzed the effect of IC and SSB on social performance in Indonesian Islamic banks with a sample of 14 Islamic banks throughout the period 2008-2019. To test the research hypotheses, panel data regression model analysis was applied. The results did not establish a positive impact of intellectual capital on the banks’ social performance. This result indicated that the size of intellectual capital might not lead to better social performance. This outcome may be due to IC still being the focus of financial performance such that it has not been utilized to optimize the social performance of Islamic banks. The results also showed that SSBs have a positive effect on social performance. It can be concluded that Supervisory Boards could monitor the social activities conducted by Islamic banks, leading to an improvement in the activities. This study helps to bolster the understanding of the role of IC and SSB governance in enhancing the social performance function of Islamic banks.

Research has proven that success at universities depends on their intellectual capital. Intellectual capital is an intangible asset that supports an organization's growth and advancement. The research aims to investigate the role and relationship of intellectual capital on the performance and efficiency of Malaysian public universities. The education sector, particularly public universities, was chosen due to its roles in building society and the development of human capital in the knowledge-intensive economy. The current study applies three components of intellectual capital, namely human capital, structural capital, and relational capital as the independent variables, while university performance is the dependent variable. Structured questionnaires were distributed to management teams of public universities in Malaysia. With the application of SPSS, the results demonstrate that all three components have a significant effect on the university's performance. Among the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard which is the measurement of performance, intellectual capital was found to be most significant to the internal processes at the university. In dealing with the crucial issues faced in the current era, it is recommended that the university strategize its investment in intellectual capital to strengthen its performance. A model to measure intellectual capital in universities is crucial to ensure quality services are provided to the various stakeholders inclusive of the students, policymakers, and the taxpayers.

Technologies are ubiquitous in the 21st century, and educators need to integrate relevant technologies into their teaching practices to meet stakeholders’ expectations and keep abreast with the accounting profession’s advancement. A mixed-method approach of quantitative and qualitative techniques was used in this study, with the latest version of the SPSS software (version 26) and NVivo software to analyse the data. The results depict the accounting educators’ usage efforts of 21st century educational technology tools and platforms; it is neither highly prevalent nor optimised. Future researchers could expand the investigation of 21st century educational technology by utilising the proposed constructs, model and hypotheses from this study’s qualitative findings. The study revives the stagnant educational technology literature in accounting education and explicates technology usage issues in accounting education, specifically in developing countries and the Asian region. Implications for practice or policy: Education ministries, higher education institutions, faculties, policymakers and academics should encourage educators to adopt and integrate 21st century educational technology into their practices. The integration of 21st century educational technology in teaching and learning practice should align with individual attributes, technology characteristics and organisational factors. Accounting educators must acquire technological competence through appropriate professional development and training programmes.

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