Industry Article

Working capital is important for any firm and its administration is acknowledged as an essential of corporate administration. The main objective of working capital management is to choose the appropriate levels of the working capital components in order to ensure that the firm is able to meet its operating expenses and mitigate risks of default on payment of short-term obligations. In addition, working capital management is important for a firm’s survival because of its effects on a firm’s profitability and risk, and consequently its value (Gimeno, Folta et al. 1997) (Gunay and Kesimli 2011) and (Deloof 2003). Failure to manage working capital in prudent manner may lead to liquidity crisis and reduction in profitability, affecting the ability of firm to continue its operations.

The sum of global Islamic assets under management (AUM) is relatively small compared with the overall market. In the third quarter of 2015, Islamic AUM represented approximately 1% of the global market or US$60.2 billion; nevertheless, Malaysia contributes the largest portion with a total value of US$27.2 billion, according to data from the International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic Finance and Zawya. Chart 2 illustrates the position of Malaysia as a market leader for Islamic fund management. Growth in this industry, even if it’s small, would be a significant boost to the Malaysian economy and crucial when we need to diversify our economy in order to reduce the over-reliance on commodities. However, we are facing a number of challenges, some of which are expounded in the following paragraphs.

Shariah committee independence has been highlighted by the Shariah Governance Framework as an important credential for an effective functioning of Shariah committees. This study examined Shariah committee independence of local IFIs as perceived by the shariah committee members of the IFIs. The results identified Shariah committee independence safeguards and threats, and implied better effectiveness through clearly defined meaning of independence and guidelines or code of best practices as a guide for the committee and related parties.