As a developing nation, Malaysia is looking forward to transforming its direction towards the Industrial Revolution 5.0. Aligned with the transformation process that is mainly driven by the rapid modern industrial transformation, Malaysian education system is faced with a variety of challenges especially in equipping young adults with innovative, digitally literate, and high critical thinking skills to make them future-ready. Additionally, the growing digital world economy has resulted in the loss and transformation of jobs which necessitates the transformation of Malaysian education for future employability. Moreover, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of the education sector. Hence, this study aims to explore, analyze, and evaluate first-year Bachelor in Accountancy students’ perspectives with regard to their online learning experiences in digitalized classrooms by looking at six dimensions: 1) Self-Directed Learning, 2) Learner Readiness toward Online Learning, 3) Learner Control, 4) Online Communication, 5) Computer/Internet Self-Efficacy, and 6) Motivation for Learning. Using a qualitative research design, online interviews via Google Meet involving 43 first-year students were conducted. The recorded interviews were then transcribed and analyzed using ATLAS.ti 8. The results of the study suggest that online learning has its advantages and disadvantages based on the respondents’ perspectives and experiences. A majority of the respondents reported that they enjoyed online learning and were well prepared for it while some of them perceived online learning as a complicated approach due to some factors. It can be concluded that these students were ready for online learning.

As part of requirement to complete the continuous assessment for subjects in universities, students are assigned with a problem-based learning in the form of a research assignments to be completed within a certain period of time. These assignments are usually in the form of final year projects or write-up based on certain requirements set by their lecturers. For Accounting undergraduates in MARA University of Technology, Malacca campus who took Advanced Auditing as their core subject, they are normally assigned to prepare a write up based on the content analysis of the Annual report of companies or a site visit to companies. However, during Covid-19 pandemic, classes are conducted via online, thus, students have restricted access to companies. Therefore, as part of an action research, a team of audit lecturers have decided to assign students with online research project as their assignment. Students were divided into groups of four to five people and instructed to conduct research on areas related to current audit issues. This study was performed to elicit feedback on those accounting students who were assigned to conduct the research project for their Auditing subject. A total of 222 students from the Faculty of Accountancy in UiTM Malacca participated in this online survey. The findings provide feedback from the student point of view, which is part of the stakeholders to the university. Majority of the students agreed that the research project has enriched their knowledge and exposed them to the new skill of performing simple research. Such feedback is crucial to improve the quality of future assignments besides ensuring them gaining new knowledge throughout the assignment exercise.

Effective communication is key in business to improve performance. A key success factor in achieving communication effectiveness is the channel selection made by the business. When channels are effectively applied, it results in a higher degree of engagement which then boosts productivity and through that leads to business success. Social distancing strategies during the Covid-19 crisis create barriers to communication. Businesses would need to plan on the best communication channels in times of crisis for continuing business and should a similar crisis recur. This paper examines the available evidence on the most used communication channel by businesses during the pandemic crisis year 2020 and examines the factors influencing the choice. We conducted a literature review, searching related articles from Scopus and Web of Science databases and the Google Scholar search engine. The review showed that the most used communication channel is digital platforms namely email, social media, websites, and television. We identified three categories of factors influencing business communication channel choice: (1) Information effectiveness; (2) Business networking; and(3) User literacy. Given the changing preference of people along with the evolving technology, we hope to offer some insight for a better plan of communication that would enhance the effectiveness of business communication to have a high-quality business.

This paper aims to examine the accounting undergraduates' action plan in designing their first career to increase their chances to be employed immediately after they graduate. This is essential given that the growing unemployment rate were reported in the nation. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted involving five finalyear students and five work supervisors/managers in Melaka, Malaysia. The study discovered that undergraduates' initial decision about which career path to pursue will influence their internship placement. To guarantee post-graduation employment, undergraduates should be prepared for real-world challenges, equipped with computer skills, soft skills, interpersonal skills, good time management, and be able to integrate internship experiences with academic knowledge. Employers expect undergraduates to comprehend accounting standards and guidelines like MFRS, MPERS, and MPSAS and possess good attitudes and interpersonal skills. Hence, discovering undergraduates' action plan may provide opportunities to explore areas for improvement in internship practices from the perspectives of key stakeholders including university department leaders, work supervisors/managers, lecturers as well as final year students. It is vital as work-based experiences have become increasingly important in education prior to beginning a career as it allows students to develop skills and competencies that determine their employability. Future research should include more public and private universities as it will provide more generalizability of insights into Malaysian accountancy undergraduates' action plans in designing their first career as well as involving more participants.

Islamic philanthropy in Malaysian education system has been well rooted in religion-based traditional educational institutions. Currently, Waqf and Endowment (WAE) grow rapidly at higher education institutions as an income generation and a long-term financial sustainability initiative. The initiative is as a result of budget cut by 20 percent for public universities since 2016 and 2017 but no raise in fee is allowed. This initiative is in line to recommendation in the University Transformation Programme (UniTP), Purple Book shift No 5, the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education). Being a non-profit organization, the performance of WAE in Malaysian public universities is expected to be different as compared to commercial entities. The importance of having WAE performance measurement may include the economy, effectiveness and efficiency aspects of its activities towards the intended objectives. The method of the study is based on documents review on performance although the literatures on WAE performance measurement in higher education institution is still lacking. As such, the need to develop a holistic model that covers both aspect of performance measurement and good governance are required consistent with the vision of establishment of WAE to act as one of a perpetual financial source for universities. Hence, this research aimed to propose Waqf Performance Measurement and Governance Model used to evaluate WAE's reliability and performance in Malaysian public universities. Future research is required to test and verify this model on the initial sample from waqf institutes in public universities. The expected finding of this study is this model can become as a main reference in measuring the performance of WAE in Malaysian public universities embedded with good governance principles, that could result the positive implications in strengthening the WAE's credibility and stakeholder confidence for universities financial sustainability.