The 7th International Conference on Business, Accounting, Finance and Economics (BAFE) 2019 was held at Copthorne Hotel, Cameron Highlands, Pahang on 4 October 2019.

Organised by the Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) for the seventh consecutive year, the annual conference was themed ‘Managing Uncertainties through Resilience’ and attended by over 60 participants comprising academics, researchers, students and working professionals from as far as China, India and Nigeria.

Officiating the opening ceremony were UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong representing UTAR President Ir Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat; Keynote Speaker Prof Dr Yu Min-Teh from Taiwan’s Providence University and National Chiao Tung University; and Research Speaker Professor Dr Mohamed Ariff Syed Mohamed from Sunway University. They were accompanied by FBF Dean Dr Au Yong Hui Nee and BAFE 2019 Organising Chairperson Dr Zam Zuriyati binti Mohamad.

Highlighting the significance of the BAFE conference in times of global uncertainties, Dr Au Yong mentioned, “The world economy is experiencing more challenging times with market uncertainties, especially in the midst of the US-China Trade Disputes. At the environment front, the environmental problem faced by mankind is climate change. Technology wise, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the business landscape and operations. The digital financial services industry is undergoing explosive development in the competition for e-commerce and new payment methods. The rise of finance technology is also redefining financial services.” She said that the interrelation of these revolutionary changes reflects the need to study them, thus underlining the need for academic discussions for solutions.

Thanking the organising committee for the invitation and congratulating them for successfully organising the conference in a consistent manner, Prof Choong mentioned, “Seven years ago when FBF had its inaugural BAFE conference, its initial objective was just to cultivate research interests among the faculty’s young academics, to which it was warmly received by the faculty’s academics who also submitted their papers. Over the years, the submission of papers grew more and there were even papers from academics overseas, further indicating the success of the conference under the Dean’s leadership.”

The Vice President also stated that the conference’s theme this year - “Managing Uncertainties through Resilience” is indeed timely and relevant following the many uncertainties such as the US-China trade wars, the effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution towards small and medium-sized enterprises, economic transformations among ASEAN countries, and so on. “These are issues which need to be dealt with flexibility. Today, at this conference, we have ideas, views and findings from various local and international researchers who may have good solutions for others to learn from and adopt,” he continued, and proceeded to thank both Prof Yu and Prof Ariff for allowing the rest to pick on their brains.

The ceremony reached its highlight with Prof Choong, Prof Yu and Prof Ariff being accompanied by Dr Au Yong and Dr Zam on stage to officially launch the conference.

Besides the presentation of over 50 research papers throughout three parallel sessions in the areas of Finance, Accounting and Corporate Governance; Global and Institutional Economics; Digital Transformations; Green Marketing; Auditing, Taxation and Investment; Financial Economics; Organisational Strategy and Behaviour; Technology in Business; Banking and Finance; Workplace Management; and Business Management Strategy, the conference participants also had their views broadened via Prof Ariff’s research talk titled “Exchange Rate Instability: Malaysian Ringgit vs Korean Won vs Developing Country Currencies” and also Prof Yu’s Keynote Speech titled “Climate Changes and Catastrophe Bond Prices”.

Recognising research excellence among the presenters, four best papers were also handpicked to receive the Best Paper Awards. The list of winners is as follows:

Learning about the conference from Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Faculty of Economics and Management, Jayeola Olakule was looking forward to networking with the many academics and researchers at the conference for potential research collaborations. “The conference is really well organised and has provided plenty of fresh insights into different research perspectives,” the postgraduate student told.

Held outside the Kampar Campus for the first time, BAFE 2019 was sponsored by Infotax Planning Sdn Bhd, the Perak Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Malaysian Association of Company Secretaries, William C.H. Tan & Associates, H.C. Wong & Chew, Jireh Network Advertising and Marketing, and Spritzer Berhad.