The corporate name is the identity and pride of a corporate entity. A name change is an important corporate event and done only if the benefits out weights the costs. This study attempts to investigate whether a corporate name change has a wealth effect on the company's shareholders. It investigates the wealth effects of name change announcement concurrent with announcement of reorganisation and restructuring of the firm. Event study methodology was employed to examine the above issues with respect to failed and non-failed firms for the period from 1980 to 1996 ...

This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of senior managers of Malaysian publicly listed companies on issues relating to audit committee authority and effectiveness. Questionnaire survey technique was employed to seek the respondents perceptions on five issues, namely audit committee appoints the auditor, audit committee determines and reviews audit fees, audit committee determines and reviews the auditor’s scope and duties, and audit committee’s reports and meetings. The majority of respondents agreed that auditor would be more effective and independent if audit committee assumed the responsibility to appoint the auditor, determine and review the audit fees, and determine and review the external auditor’s scope and duties. It is also found that disclosure of audit committee report and quarterly meeting would enhance the perceptions of users of financial statement concerning the effectiveness of the committee.

Financial ratios have long been used as predictor of important events in financial markets of developed economies. Formulating business failure prediction models utilising financial ratios is no exception. However, there is hardly any evidence on failure prediction in developing markets such as Malaysia. This study develops a failure prediction model for industrial sector listed firms that discriminates between 24 failed and non-failed for the period 1980 to 1996. The findings show that the model correctly and significantly classified 91.1% and 89.3% of the failed and non-failed firms respectively. An alternative prediction model developed based solely on accounting information showed similar results. These models predict failure up to 4 years before the actual event. The variables in the final model implies that profits, cash flows , working capital and net worth are important determinants of failures of firms listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

This book is meant for both professionals and students of capital markets in an emerging economy. It is about financial behaviour of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. It provides for the first time care-fully-researched findings about the structure of pricing in this reasonably-well-organised emerging stock market in Malaysia, which is an attractive Asian location for portfolio investment. The findings reports in this book should provide useful benchmarks for practice by professionals in accounting, finance, financial economics, regulations, etc.