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The present digital era has integrated the conventional telecommunications companies as service providers in this ever-competitive environment. Towards gaining business competitiveness, businesses are operated from the stance of dynamic business model that places focus on both economic activities and, more importantly, value-added benefits. One essential value embedded into business strategies refers to the aspect of sustainability in conjunction to environmental social governance (ESG). Within the context of Malaysia, ESG practices have been expected to grow rapidly in years to come, along with the vision of becoming a digital economy nation, by 2050. The continuous discussions appear to support the significance of implementing ESG practices amidst organizations, which in turn, could enhance a more sustainable economic growth for the country. Although many studies have probed into the dimensions of ESG, little attention has been given to the ESG practices incorporated into business strategy agenda.

This paper combed through the literature to retrieve the multi-dimensions of ESG concepts, as well as related in-depth insights into ESG disclosures amongst leading companies established in Malaysia. As for the research design, this study used the content analysis method and the ESG Grid as the benchmarking tool to explore superior commitments amongst its peers.

As a result, this study stumbled upon two major outcomes: the pattern of ESG disclosures in telecommunications industry and the approaches in implementing ESG practices in telecommunications companies. These two aspects appear essential to establish a competitive advantage, apart from addressing the issues raised by concerned stakeholders.

Future studies may explore deeper into comprehending the ESG practices by using the interview method and incorporating other industry or arena.

The decisions made by the companies to invest in ESG practices mark the ability of a company in devising viable survival strategies within the industry.

Hence, this study offers several vital insights into the practical value to learn from the best experiences, aside from analyzing the current progress of ESG practices within the context of developing nation.

This paper aims to explore social responsibility reporting of full-fledged Islamic banks in two developing countries, namely, Indonesia and Malaysia. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important aspect of business society. As such, companies have shown a growing interest in reporting their social and environmental initiatives.

Content analysis of the annual reports for three full-fledged local Islamic banks in Indonesia and three Islamic banks in Malaysia was carried out for the period of 2007-2011.

Results of the study revealed that CSR disclosure of Islamic banks has generally grown both in Malaysia and Indonesia. More specifically, it was found that workplace and community dimensions were the most highly disclosed areas by the Islamic banks in both countries.

The current study provides a cross-cultural perspective on social responsibility disclosure in Islamic banks across two countries. The study is limited by investigating a five-year time frame.

By discussing the findings according to the stages of growth model for CSR, the authors suggest that Islamic banks can enhance their responsiveness, and transform their role from being CSR reporters of social responsibility to responders.

While the tenets of CSR have a lot in common with Islamic moral law (Shariah), little is known about CSR disclosure of Islamic banks.

Climate change has become an increasingly important issue globally, and organisations are being urged to be more carbon friendly by taking initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in their business operations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which climate change has been addressed and the influence of financial strength and corporate governance structure on the disclosure of carbon information.

The research process consists of an investigation via content analysis of the annual and sustainability reports of the top 100 public-listed companies in Malaysia for the year 2017.

The results of the study revealed that carbon information on carbon emissions accounting had the highest disclosure and that climate change risks and opportunities had the lowest disclosure. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that profitability is positively significant with carbon disclosure while leverage is negatively significant. However, the governance structure does not seem to have any influence on the disclosure of carbon information.

The conclusions drawn from the study must be interpreted with caution as the sample companies only comprise of the top 100 public-listed companies in Malaysia to provide an initial insight into the situation in Malaysia. Furthermore, the interpretations and conclusions drawn from this study are based solely on a cross-sectional analysis of the data for only one year.

This finding is a significant contribution to regulatory bodies and policymakers regarding the drivers of climate change initiatives in an emerging economy such as Malaysia. This finding suggests that in the Malaysian setting, financial structure influence decisions on climate change initiatives.

The commitment by business leaders of the impact on climate from the production processes would contribute towards a low carbon economy and subsequently improve the quality of life of the community.

The findings of the study provide insight of the business attitude towards climate change in an emerging economy such as Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of environmental offences committed in Malaysia charged under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA1974).

This study used secondary data of the environmental court cases report by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia from 2008 until 2016 to examine the nature of environmental offences based on the Treadmill of Production (ToP) approach.

In comparison with the GDP growth (Department of Statistic Malaysia, 2016), the findings support ToP argument that as far as the treadmill accelerates, the more would be the environmental crime committed. However, all offences charged were weighted more on the ecological additions rather than ecological withdrawn. The trend analysis showed a decreasing trend for all types of offences committed, reflecting that Malaysia's regulatory authorities are committed to fighting against environmental crime perpetrators. Therefore, all parties must be made to internalise the values of conducting business sustainably.

This paper is the first that examines the environmental offences committed in Malaysia using the ToP approach to analyse the nature of the crime committed in Malaysia associated with the growing literature of Green Criminology.

This study examines whether investors take into consideration the balance sheet numbers when determining the market value of companies. Specifically, an investigation is made of the association between the book value of equity and the value placed on the firm by the stock market. An equity valuation model first mentioned by Landsman (1986), based on the balance sheet identity, is used to permit assets and liabilities to have separate empirical coefficient values. In scope, the study covers Malaysian main board companies from years 1990 to 1997. Evidence is provided which is consistent with the notion that the market incorporates information on accounting numbers in the valuation of a firm. As a general conclusion, the results indicate that investors do use information in the balance sheet.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the motives behind corporate environmental reporting in Malaysia and Australia from an alternative perspective, i.e. through semiotics.

Reviews are made on the annual reports of the top 50 public companies in both countries, and the uses of business languages in those reports are investigated. The research concentrates on the significations of environmental messages made through paradigmatic and syntagmatic tests.

Corporate environmental disclosures made by the public companies in Malaysia and Australia signify similar form of motives. The tones, orientations, and patterns of environmental disclosures indicate that environmental information is a strategic mechanism used towards enhancing good corporate reputation.

Environmental reporting plays a significant role in promoting corporate “green” image in conjunction with the aims for better social integration.

Semiotics offers a useful basis that enables a greater understanding of why companies prepare and disclose environmental information. Such an understanding holds the potential to provide ideas and guide policy‐makers, and other stakeholders (and users) of corporate environmental information.

This paper is the first to comparatively investigate the corporate motives and intention of environmental reporting practices via the application of semiotics on a two‐country data, specifically Malaysia and Australia.

The objective of this paper is to examine environmental disclosure practices among Malaysian public‐listed companies in an attempt to interpret corporate motivations for their environmental engagements and commitments.

This paper investigates corporate motivations using content analysis by examining the corporate annual reports. Discourse analysis was used to analyse and then interpret the environmental information. In particular, the reasons that have inspired companies in Malaysia to engage in environmental matters are the focus of the research.

The results revealed high levels of information in environmental disclosures concerning current environmental engagements and future environmental plans/strategies. The environmental information was found to contain messages that revealed the corporate motives of certain environmental engagements. Three key motivating factors were found to be: “stakeholders' concern”, “self‐environmental concern” and “operational improvements”.

The paper advocates interpretation of the discourse of environmental information to determine the comprehensive scope on corporate environmental reporting.

Disclosure practices (through the use of language) are utilised by business corporations to articulate messages concerning their environmental engagements and the motives behind such engagements. Furthermore, the paper offers some insights into current environmental reporting practices in a developing country.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

ESG practices are being viewed as a significant step towards gaining a competitive advantage, as well as making economies more resilient to economic downturns. This brief looks at ESG within the Malaysian telecommunications market.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists, and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This study aimed at investigating the value relevance of book value and earnings and the relationship between earnings and operating cash flow of two different financial reporting regimes in Malaysia. A market and nonmarket valuation approaches were utilised for that purpose. The result of market valuation approach of pool sample shows that book values and earnings are value relevant. We also observed that the change in financial reporting regime affects significantly the value relevance of book value and but not earnings. While book value and earnings are value relevant during the MASB period, only book value is value relevance during the FRS period. The result of non‐market valuation approach on the other hand, shows that the change in financial reporting regime has no significant effect on the relationship between earnings and operating cash flow. The result of market valuation approach implicates that the introduction of new or improved standards under FRS regime strengthen the position of book value thus leaving earnings behind in equity valuation. The result of non‐market valuation model implicates that the level of relationship between earnings and operating cash flow persists as long as operating cash flow comprise of cash and cash equivalent components whereas earnings comprise of cash and accruals components. The study contributes to the existing literature in the area of the effect of adoption of FRS on value relevance of accounting numbers in Malaysia.