In corporate finance, the early prediction of financial distress is considered more important as another occurrence of business risks. The study presents a review of literature for early prediction of financial bankruptcy. It contributes to the formation of a systematic review of the literature regarding previous studies done in the field of bankruptcy. It addresses two most commonly used financial distress prediction models, i.e. multivariate discriminant analysis and logit. Models are discussed with their advantages and disadvantages. After methodological review, it seems that logit regression model (LRM) is more advantageous than multivariate discriminant analysis (MDA) for better prediction of financial bankruptcy. However, accurate prediction of bankruptcy is beneficial to improve the regulation of companies, to form policies for companies and to take any precautionary measures if any crisis is about to come in future.

Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of research topics and publications produced by Islamic Finance scholars in Malaysia, focusing on six research domains (Shariah-based, Islamic Finance, Islamic Economics, Islamic Accounting, Islamic Management and Halal Management) in five public universities in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach This study seeks to analyse the research gaps and recommend future research based on publications produced by Islamic Finance scholars from five public universities in Malaysia. Data on talents were collected from the MIFER report 2016 and each universities’ website, while research and publications of the talents were collected from Google Scholar and the Scopus database. The extracted data were analysed using bibliometric analysis in VOSviewer version 1.6.15. Findings The results show that the five selected universities talents have different research strengths according to six research domains highlighted in MIFER 2021 and Beyond Report. All five universities are found to contribute the least research in Halal Management domain. In view of the increasing prominence of this area of research in the national and international levels, these universities and other universities in Malaysia can generate more research in Halal Economy, Halal Management, and other related areas within this domain. The finding indicated that each university tends to have a strength according to the different domains, and 2019 is the most productive year for Islamic Finance publications. Analysis from productive scholars and co-citations shows that the authors collaborate within the same university to create a different topic for each research cluster. Research limitations/implications The bibliometric analysis only captures the general keyword terms, which may be limited to the only generalised sub-research areas. Practical implications This bibliometric study, which is based on the expertise of researchers, complements meta-analysis, and qualitative structured literature reviews aid researchers or talents in developing future research directions such as Green economy, Cryptocurrency, Fintech, Halal Management and others. In addition, this is a case study in nature and can serve to enhance understanding the landscape of Islamic finance education and as a reference for practices in institutions of higher learning from around the world. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is a new research initiative comparing five top programme providers in the field of Islamic finance using a bibliometric approach to enhance talent development and capacity building. With the government’s efforts to further promote Malaysia as the Islamic Financial Hub, this study highlights the research gap in Islamic finance based on scholars’ publications from selected five Malaysian universities and potential topics for future research. This study focuses on the research domain for each university, the trend of publishing, the number of journals published by academics, productive scholars and citations by Malaysian universities, and examines if the publications align with current industry needs.

In Malaysia, the housing ownership is reported to decrease from 85% in 1999 to 72.5% in 2010. This is due to the outstripped increase of house price over the income level and the unstable economic situation which creates unaffordability to own a house for many people. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to examine whether the price of terrace houses in Penang is being affected with fundamental factors such as inflation, interest rates and the cost of renting. This study uses multivariate regression analysis with quarterly data of terrace house prices (HPI terrace house in Penang), inflation (CPI) and interest rate (mortgage rates) from 2009: Q1 to 2016: Q4. Evidently, the cost of renting terrace houses in Penang does not have any impact on the price of terrace houses and the stable movement of cost of renting indicates that the growth of rental rate is at acceptable price for middle income earners.

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The implementation of good governance practices for Islamic products and services is significantly important in order to ensure its sustainability in the long-run. Furthermore, the strong regulatory framework of governance structures which is based on Shari’ah principles can help to reduce fraud, dishonesty and other unethical practices in doing businesses. Nevertheless, for a new Islamic product such as Islamic real estate investment trust, lack of specific standards and guidelines stated for the appointment of Shari’ah Advisor (SA) may distort the optimum growth and future development of this product. Thus, this paper examine the practice of selecting Shari’ah Advisory Committee by Islamic REIT companies in Malaysia using five standard governance framework which are independence, confidentiality, competence, consistency and disclosure. The data are taken from the Islamic REITs’ companies’ annual reports and interviews with relevant authorities such as Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia. Results from this study suggest that information of Shari’ah Advisory Board/Committee members and qualifications are not properly disclosed in the annual report and the term of appointment of Shari’ah Advisory Committee in some of the REIT companies is too long. In addition, the elements of Islamic auditing or reporting are vague. These factors are significantly important as they show the important role of good governance in ensuring the faith of investors is not being compromised and the Islamic REIT is Shari’ah compliant. Thus, it can be concluded that more effort need to be put forward in producing a good Islamic governance framework for Islamic REIT.