This study aims to investigate the moderating effects of the Shariah committee (SC) on the extent of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) of Islamic banks. This study provides evidence from an analysis of a sample of Islamic banks in multiple countries over a seven-year period (2012-2018). The extent of intellectual capital information was measured and regressed against several corporate governance attributes covering board and audit committee characteristics, gender diversity of SC members and moderating variables of the SC, while controlling for firm-specific variables. A checklist was developed to measure the extent of the ICD of Islamic banks on a rubric scale ranging from 0 to 3. The results show that the size and gender diversity among SC significantly influence the ICD practices of Islamic banks. Apart from contributing to the literature, this study may serve as valuable input for Islamic banking practitioners including regulators and standard setters to empower women and use all their potential for better intellectual capital output. The paper highlights two main implications. Firstly, the regulator should look at the size and composition of the SC to enable a conducive environment for sound deliberation of Shariah matters. Secondly, the gender diversity among SC should be considered because women and man may have different approaches, and the best optimal combination of resources could enhance Islamic banks' competitive advantage.

Intellectual capital is imperative for Islamic banks given their unique characterisctiscs in that they offer innovative Shariah-based solutions to the modern financial problems. This study therefore examined the influence of corporate goverance on intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) practices of Islamic banks. Data from a sample of 33 Islamic banks for the period 2012 to 2018 were collected. A self-developed ICD checklist was used to measure the extent of IC information disclosed in the annual report. This paper also examines the relationship between ICD practices and several corporate governance components which includes board size, board meeting, board independence, board gender, board expertise, audit committee size, audit committee meeting, audit committee independence, audit committee gender and audit committee expertise. Our results revealed that having an effective corporate governance structure is essential, as it is able to influence the ICD practices of Islamic banks. However, instead of focusing on the role of the board, our paper highlights the importance role of audit committee functions. Specifically, the results suggest that larger or reasonable audit committee size tends to have varied skills and expertise among the audit committee members, resulting in more information by allowing for greater diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints. Gender diversity in audit members' profiles will also encourage the board to be more effective and creative in generating innovative ideas, hence more IC will be created. This study adds to the empirical studies on corporate governance from Islamic banks' perspectives covering several countries. It also introduce the Shariah capital, as one of components in the IC index to respond to the peculiarities of Islamic on intellectual capital.

The Islamic banking industry has grown and gained a remarkable position in the global share of the financial sector. This growth requires a strong emphasis on intellectual capital (IC) that includes dedicated human capital, reliable structural capital, and a committed and long lasting relational capital among participants in the Islamic banking ecosystem. The study aims is to examine and compare the intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) practices of Islamic banks under different reporting regimes. The IFRS issued by IASB and FAS issued by AAOIFI are the two commonly used standards for financial repoting by Islamic banks. The findings indicate that, on average, there is not much difference between IFSB and AAOIFI scores (IASB:57.25% vs AAOIFI: 56.58%); in fact, most of IFSB-based banks performed better that AAOIFI-based banks throughout the period of study except in first year (i.e. 2012). The study also examined the relationship of corporate governance and the moderating role of Shariah committee with the extent of ICD practices among the Islamic banks. Several corporate governance mechanisms such as board size, number of board meetings, board gender, board independence, board expertise, audit committee size, number of audit committee meeting, audit committee gender, audit committee independence, and audit committee expertise were used as dependent variables. While, selected Shariah committee characteristics that, included Shariah committee size and Shariah committee gender were the moderating variables and firm characteristics were used as control variables to control for cross-sectional differences associated with ICD. The study applied the prominent resourced-based, agency and legitimacy theories and formulated twenty-three (23) hypotheses. Based on a total sample of 231 Islamic banks in four countries, namely Malaysia, Brunei, Bahrain and Jordan covering year 2012 to 2018, the findings revealed that having an effective governance structure is essential, as it is able to influence the ICD practices of Islamic banks. Specifically, the study found that ICD practices of Islamic banks is significantly and positively associated with board size, board independence, audit committee gender and audit committee independence. The results suggest that larger or reasonable board size tends to have varied skills and expertise among the board members, resulting in more information by allowing for greater diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the trend of intellectual capital disclosures (ICD) of Islamic banks under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) regimes over a seven-year period (2012?2018). A self-developed checklist was developed to measure the extent of ICD practices of Islamic banks in both regimes. The results revealed a moderate increase in ICD practices over the period of the study. However, there is no significant difference in ICD between the two financial reporting regimes i.e. IFRS and AAOIFI-based banks. In fact, most of the IFRS-based banks have better ICD than AAOIFI-based banks throughout the analysis period. This study contributed to the ICD literature by introducing Shariah capital as a new category of information to disclose besides the common disclosure on human capital, relational and structural related information by the Islamic banks. It is important for Islamic banks to distinguish themselves from conventional banks and ICD can be a conduit to show their uniqueness. The introduction of Shariah capital in this study reflects the main objective of Islamic bank?s existence, and it should become an important element in ICD. In fact, some form of guidelines or policy by regulating agencies could facilitate the ICD by Islamic banks and reflect the truth about their ability to capitalize on Intellectual capital and disclose about these practices to their stakeholders.