Disclosure Practices in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions

This study examines the extent to which universities in Malaysia disclose accountability information in their annual reports. There is still limited empirical evidence assessing how comprehensively Malaysian universities disclose accountability-related information despite regulatory efforts and increasing public expectations. Therefore, this study aims to fill that gap by focusing on both public and private universities in Malaysia and have published their 2022 annual report online. Annual report from 16 public and 18 private universities will be collected through their websites as the data to conduct this research. The data collected will be analyzed using 62-item of disclosure that have been developed based on Modified Accountability Disclosure (MAD) and MGTC 4/2007 index frameworks in order to determine the disclosure levels of annual reports. Each item was coded using binary scoring (1=disclosed; 0=not disclosed) to measure the comprehensiveness of reporting across four categories which are overview, service performance, financial performance and physical and financial condition. The findings indicate significant variation in disclosure quality among universities, with some institutions providing comprehensive and transparent reports, while others offer a minimal information. The study contributes to the growing literature on accountability in higher education by offering a comparative assessment of reporting practices and highlighting the need for more standardized and transparent frameworks in Malaysia’s higher education sector. For future research should include digital or interactive reports and environment, social and governance (ESG) frameworks to align with evolving global standards.