Accounting Standards Compliance and Comparability of Measurement Practices: The Case of Malaysian General Insurers

Authors

  • Ku Nor Izah Ku Ismail School of Accountancy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
  • Shamsul Nahar Abdullah School of Accountancy Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32890/mmj1999.3.2.3

Abstract

This study determines the extent of compliance level of Malaysian general insurers towards the requirements stipulated in MAS 3 (Malaysian Accounting Standard No.3: Accounting for General Insurance Business) and GPI (Guidelines on Accounting for Insurance Business, JPI/GPI 3), and subsequently determines the comparability of relevant measurement practices outlined in the Standards and Guidelines. Data from the annual reports of 35 insurers were gathered and 18 measurement practices were examined in the study. The Herfindahl index (known as H-index) was employed in measuring the comparability of measurement practices. Except for the accrual of dividends, results suggest that the compliance level of companies towards most of the other items were high. Nevertheless, results on comparability of measurement practices were rather mixed, having H-indices ranging from a low score of 0.47 to a perfect score of 1.

 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ahmed, K. & Nicholls, D. (1994). The impact of non-financial company characteristics on mandatory disclosure compliance in devel-oping countries: The case of Bangladesh. The International Journal of Accounting, 29(1), 62-77.

Archer, S., Delvaille, P. & McLeay, S. (1995). The measurement of harmonisation and the com-parability of financial statement items: within-country and between-country effects. Accounting and Business Research, 25(98), 67-80.

Choi, F.D.S. & Bavishi, V.B. (1982). Financial accounting standards: A multinational syn-thesis and policy framework. International Journal of Accounting, Fall, 159-183.

Dickson, J. (1991). A faltering step towards com-parability: The new EC insurance accounts directive does not go quite far enough.

Accountancy, 108(1177), 26-27.

Evans, T.G. & Taylor, MLE. (1982). Bottom-line compliance with the IASC: A comparative analysis. International Journal of Account-ing, Fall, 115-128.

Fischer, S.A. (1989). Comparability in financial reporting. Journal of Business Forecasting, 8(3), 9-11. Malaysian Management Journal 3 (2), 31-47 (1999) //mmj.uum.edu.my http

Herrmann, D. & Thomas, W. (1995). Harmonisa-tion of accounting measurement practices in the European community. Accounting and Business Research, Autumn, 253-264.

Hussein, M. (1992). The cultural context of finan-cial reporting: The case of the US and the Netherlands. International Accounting Re-search Conference.

Insurance Director, Bank Negara Malaysia (1995). 33rd Annual Report of the Director General of Insurance.

Ku Nor Izah K. I. & Shamsul Nahar A. (1998). Mandatory disclosure in the corporate an-nual reports of general insurers in Malaysia. Jurnal ANALISIS, 5(1&2), 47-66.

McKinnon, S.M. & Janell, P. (1984). The interna-tional accounting standards committee: A performance evaluation. International Jour-nal of Accounting, Spring, 19-34.

Nair, R.D. & Frank, W.C. (1981). The harmonisa-tion of international accounting standards, 1973-1979, International Journal of Ac-counting, Fall, 61-77.

Purvis, S.E. (1991). The IASC and the comparabi-lity project: Prerequisites for success. Ac-counting Horizons, June, 25-44.

Van der Tas, L. G. (1988). Measuring harmonisa-tion of financial reporting practice. Account-ing and Business Research, 18(70), 157-69. Malaysian Management Journal 3 (2), 31-47 (1999)

Downloads

Published

01-12-1999

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (1999): Malaysian Management Journal (MMJ) Vol. 3 No. 2 December 1999

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Ku Ismail, K. N. I., & Abdullah, S. N. (1999). Accounting Standards Compliance and Comparability of Measurement Practices: The Case of Malaysian General Insurers. Malaysian Management Journal, 3(2), 31-47. https://doi.org/10.32890/mmj1999.3.2.3

Research impact

Harvested 2026-09-07
0 citations recorded so far

Counts differ between services because each indexes a different body of literature. None of them is the whole picture.

Identifiers DOI 10.32890/mmj1999.3.2.3

Most read articles by the same author(s)