Purpose

This paper aims to fill the governance literature void by answering the seemingly unanswered vintage questions regarding governance reform effectiveness towards ensuring a firm’s financial reporting transparency (FRT) in an emerging country of Malaysia. It involves an assessment of the specific maintained assumption in its governance code (Code) introduced two decades ago that the Code would improve FRT through the direct channel of governance practices improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

The measured FRT as proxied by the firm’s accruals quality is examined across different governance regimes of pre- and post-Code periods. This paper conjectures that the firm’s FRT should improve post-Code period, evidencing reform effectiveness towards ensuring enhanced governance practices.

Findings

The results indicate that while governance reform improves governance practices, it did not, however, bring improved FRT of firms. The interaction analysis provides evidence of the Code’s ability to favourably moderate the link between the firm’s FRT and several board attributes, suggesting improvement in governance practices in ensuring the firm’s FRT pursuant to the introduction of a formally written and legally backed governance code.

Practical implications

This paper contributes to the extent of governance and FRT literature in developing economies in at least two specific ways. First, the paper presents evidence on public policy implications towards governance practices and the firms’ FRT. Second, it contributes to the public policy debate concerning governance reform effectiveness from the specific angle of the firms’ FRT, thereby confirming the potential conditions upon which the “maintained assumption” would be valid.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the extent of governance and FRT literature in emerging economies by studying the dynamic roles of governance in influencing firms’ FRT across governance regime change, something which governance literature repertoire seems to neglect. It also contributes to the public policy debate concerning governance reform effectiveness from the specific angle of the firm’s FRT by evidencing the strategic role of governance reform in influencing the financial reporting behaviour of Malaysian listed firms.

中文翻译：

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在治理改革 20 周年之际：经过马来西亚二十年的变革，重新审视公司治理和透明度的关系

目的

本文旨在通过回答关于治理改革有效性的看似悬而未决的老式问题来填补治理文献的空白，以确保马来西亚新兴国家的公司财务报告透明度 (FRT)。它涉及对其二十年前引入的治理代码（代码）中特定维护假设的评估，该代码将通过治理实践改进的直接渠道来改进 FRT。

设计/方法/途径

以公司应计利润质量为代表的衡量 FRT 在代码前后的不同治理制度中进行了检查。本文推测公司的 FRT 应该改善后代码时期，证明改革在确保加强治理实践方面的有效性。

发现

结果表明，虽然治理改革改善了治理实践，但它并没有带来公司 FRT 的改善。相互作用分析提供了准则能够有利地缓和公司 FRT 和几个董事会属性之间联系的证据，表明根据正式书面和法律支持的治理准则的引入，改进治理实践以确保公司的 FRT。

实际影响

本文至少以两种具体方式对发展中经济体的治理和 FRT 文献做出了贡献。首先，本文提供了公共政策对治理实践和公司 FRT 影响的证据。其次，它有助于从公司 FRT 的特定角度讨论关于治理改革有效性的公共政策辩论，从而确认“维持假设”有效的潜在条件。

原创性/价值

这项研究通过研究治理在治理制度变化中影响公司 FRT 的动态作用，为新兴经济体的治理和 FRT 文献做出了贡献，而治理文献库似乎忽略了这一点。它还通过证明治理改革在影响马来西亚上市公司财务报告行为方面的战略作用，从公司 FRT 的特定角度促进了关于治理改革有效性的公共政策辩论。