Is Employee Performance Affected by Organizational Cuoture, Work Motivation and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)?: An Empirical Investigation

The purpose of this research is to examine and analyze the influence of organizational culture, work motivation and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to employee performance. This research is conducted in Pamekasan Regency Government. The samples of this research are 116 respondents. The sample technique which used in this research is proportional stratified random sampling. This study employs questionnaire by a large number of answers based on a 5-point likert scale to collect the needed data and information. The result of this research reveals that the work motivation and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) influence to employee performance significantly. Nevertheless, organizational culture has not significant effect on employee performance at Pamekasan Regency Government.

I. INTRODUCTION
Every organization, both private organizations and government organizations in general, considers that employee is one of the important factors to support the success of all organizational activities. In this case, the organization requires employee as the driver of all operational activities [1]. Organizations to achieve their goals must have competent employees who can be used at the right time and the right place [2]. On the other hand, organizations need to improve employee performance which is demonstrated through the work achieved by employees from work related to organizational goals, efficiency and effectiveness [3].
Employee performance is shown through the work achieved by employees during a certain period of time in a particular field of work [4]. Employee performance can also affect organizational performance [5], in order to create a performance that is in line with what is expected by the organization, the leader must be able to create a work environment that is conducive and sensitive to employee conditions, while to have a good performance the employee must have expertise and skills that are appropriate for the work they have.
According to the report was said by The Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (Kemenpan-RB) in 2018 related to the employee performance of government organization, there are around 1.35 million employee (30 percent) which has poor performance values, in carrying their daily duties, they were not follow the rules and tend to not want to know (Koran Sindo, 2018) [6]. This has provided evidence that the issue of employee performance in government organizations has become the main spotlight for the government which it is described as having a low level of professionalism, capacity of the service did not optimal, lacking integrity as employee of government so that they did not have emotional ties with their agencies and duties. The performance problem which has discussed, according to [7] were caused by the application of a less optimal organizational culture. In their empirical study proved that organizational culture has an effect on increasing employee performance. organizational culture has defined as a shared value system that determines how employees carry out activities to achieve the goals of an organization [4]. The same thing was also stated by [8], which describes as shared sense, and organizational culture must be taught to members including new members to have the same perceptions held by members of the organization. Long-term consistency is needed to implement values and actions that are considered important for the organization. Studies in the 1980s and thereafter, have proven that organizational culture has a significant influence on performance, job satisfaction, morale, loyalty and employee involvement, turnover, commitment, employee attitudes and motivation, and efforts to attract and retain talented employees (e.g; [9]; [10]; [11]; [12]; [13]). Until now, empirical studies related to the influence of organizational culture on employee performance still exist to be studied by many experts (e.g; [14]; [15]; [16]).
Another factor that influence employee performance is work motivation [17] and [18]. According to Robbins [4] to optimize employee performance is needed the motivation, motivation is defined as a process that explains the intensity, direction, and perseverance of an individual in achieving a goal. From that definition, it can be seen that motivation is an important part of the individual basis in doing something or achieving a certain goal. [19] documented that someone who has high achievement motivation depends on the results of the work received to meet needs and satisfaction, namely material and nonmaterial satisfaction. it means that if material and non-material received are more satisfying, then the morale of employees' performance will increase, and the higher standard of desired needs, the more someone who will work actively. [20] found that motivation has an important effect on employee performance. The results of the same study were also found by [21], providing evidence that work motivation has a significant effect on employee performance.
In other side, to improve employee performance in the organization. Employees are expected to have the ability to work in teams including interpersonal skills. This skill can be demonstrated by employees who care for other employees who try to display the best outside the organization's duties. [22] explained that one of the main reasons why OCB has attracted the attention of academics and practitioners is because of the proven significance of organizational effectiveness. [23] explained that OCB affects organizational performance through increasing the efficiency of co-workers and managers; increasing resources for more productive activities and goals effectively; making organizations more responsive to change in the environment; assisting team coordination for productive work; strengthening the ability to attract and retain talented employees and improve organizational stability. According to [24] OCB is an extra-role behavior that is owned by an employee to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency, this behavior is usually indicated by helping employees even though they do not need, helping colleagues who have not worked, and helping managers to promote organizational effectiveness. In this case, [25] found that OCB affects employee performance positively and can improve the quality of ethos in public service in UK. Similar results were also obtained by [26]; [27] which the OCB has a positive and significant impact on employee performance.

Organizational Culture
Culture is a set of shared meanings that allow group members to interpret and act on their environment [28]. According to [29] organizational culture is a habit that has lasted a long time, used and applied in carrying out organizational activities as one of the drivers to improve the quality of work of employees or superiors. Generally, organizational culture is identified through stories, special languages, artifacts and norms that arise from individual and organizational behavior ( [30]; [31]). Organizational culture has several functions within the organization, such as; culture has a role in setting boundaries, meaning culture creates clear differences between one organization and another; culture makes it easier to commit to areas greater than one's personal interests; culture brings a sense of identity to members of the organization; culture serves as a mechanism for making meaning and control that guides and shapes employee attitudes and behavior; and culture can improve system stability [32]. Organizational culture can bring the organization better, and has a significant impact on employee performance ( [14]; [15]; [16]).

Work Motivation
Work motivation is defined as the desire in employees who provide strength to meet their needs and play a strong role in directing behavior, or cause employees to take action in achieving organizational goals [32]. According to [34] work motivation is a stimulant of desire and driving force of willingness to achieve the desired goals. The well-known and often heard motivational theory is the hierarchy of needs triggered by Abraham Maslow. Maslow in [35], said that each individual has five levels of needs, namely; (1) psychological needs which include: hunger, thirst, sex, protection (clothing and housing) and other physical needs; (2) security which include: safety and protection against physical and emotional loss (4) Rewards which include: self-esteem, autonomy, and achievement as well as external :: IJIEEB :: respect factors such as status, recognition and attention; (5) Self-actualization which is an impulse to become someone or something in accordance with his ambition which includes growth, achievement of potential and self-fulfillment. Empirical studies have proven that work motivation has a positive and significant impact on employee performance ( [17]; [18]; [20]; [21]).

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
In the late 1970s the term OCB was made by [36] to describe innovative and cooperative behavior through the relationship between job satisfaction and performance. [36] argued OCB as voluntary behavior, choices and individual initiatives that are not directly related to the organization's formal reward system, but as a whole can improve the organizational effectiveness. Another opinion, OCB is referred to as individual behavior that is influenced by interpersonal trust and facilitates the operation of the organization by performing tasks outside the organizational prerequisites that are not directly recognized by the formal reward system [37]. Some elements of OCB behavior such as; helping others, adhere to the rules and procedures in the workplace, and volunteering for extra duties. These behaviors are constructive, meaningful and positive behavior [38]. According to [39], OCB contributes to organizations as well as increasing colleague productivity, increasing manager productivity, saving resources owned by management and the organization as a whole, helping to maintain group functions, being very effective in coordinating work group activities, increasing the organization's ability to attract and retain the best employees, improve organizational stability, enhance the organization's ability to adapt to environmental changes. in several studies were found that OCB has a significant impact on employee performance [27] & [26]. it's Mean that employees who have OCB can improve employee performance both for the organization and for themselves.

Performance
Performance is defined as a measure of the results of a good quality and quantity in a certain time period that is influenced by many factors and carried out with the responsibility given to achieve organizational goals by employees [40]. It represents the levels of achievement of each job [41]. According to [42] employees' performance is the work of an employee during a certain period compared to various possibilities, i.g; standards, targets or criteria that are determined and mutually agreed upon. Employee performance is a factor that can significantly influence organizational profitability [43]. On the other hand, there are two factors that influence employee performance, namely internal and external factors [44].
Based on the established evidences, the researcher proposes three hypotheses on this research. H1: Allegedly organizational culture has a significant effect on employee performance. H2: Allegedly work motivation has a significant effect on employee performance. H3: Allegedly OCB has a significant effect on employee performance.

III. METHOD
The research design used in this study is quantitative research. Variables in this study are organizational culture, work motivation, and OCB as exogenous variables, and employee performance as endogenous variables. The population in this study are all employees who are in Pamekasan Regency Government for III A-D Group. The total population of 3.580 employees, and the sample used for this study are 116 samples after being calculated using the Slovin formula. The sampling technique is used proportional stratified random sampling. A structured questionnaire is used to collect data that is relevant to this study.
The Measurment of organizational culture, we used 9 items based on organizational culture scale [45]. To assess work motivation in this study 5 items were used [34]. While OCB, we used 5 questionnaire items from Organ et. al., in [46]. Furthermore, to assess employee performance, we used 4 employee performance items based on [47]. All measurement of four variables rated on 5-point Likert type scale ranging from 1 (strongly dissagre) to 5 (strongly agree). All items have a validity score of up to 0.6, and a reliability score above the significance level of 0.05 [48], and Hypotheses tests are conducted by multiple linear regression, with the following equation: Y = a + b1 X1 + b2 X2 + b3 X3 + e

III. RESULTS
Data was analyzed by using multiple regressions to test the relationship between organizational culture, work motivation, OCB and employee performance. Thus, by applying a multiple regression technique we can also determine specific independent variables that have a major influence on a dependent variable [49]. The results of this study can be seen in the table below: According to the table 1, the Adjusted R Square number is 0.549 or 54.9%. This showed that the percentage of the influence of the organizational culture (X1), work motivation (X2), OCB (X3) on the dependent variable (Y = employee performance) of 54.9%. So that, it can be said that the variation of the independent variable used in the model is able to explain 54.9%. While the remaining 45.1% is influenced or explained by other variables.
The table above showed that the t test of the influence of organizational culture on employee performance produces t-statistics = 1.665, β = 0.039, p-value = 0.507, p> 0.05, it is concluded that organizational culture has no significant effect on employee performance. These results contradict the results obtained by previous researchers in this study ( [14]; [15]; [16]). Work motivation produces t-statistics = 3.415, β = 0.279, p-value = 0.001, p <0.05, so it is concluded that work motivation has a significant effect on employee performance. These results support the findings of previous researchers ( [17]; [18]; [20]; [21]). While OCB produces t-statistics = 7.424, β = 0.507, p-value = 0,000, p <0.05, so it is concluded that OCB has a significant effect on employee performance. This results supported the findings of previous researchers who stated that employees who have good OCB can improve performance for both the organization and for themselves ( [27]& [26]).

IV. DISCUSSION
This study showed that organizational culture has no significant effect on employee performance. As seen in table 2, this is because employees assumed that organizational culture indeed should exist, and organizational culture is commonplace and normal so that organizational culture has no significant effect on employee performance, and this results supported the research of [50] and [51]. While, work motivation and OCB play an important role in influencing employee performance. As can be seen in table 2, work motivation and OCB show a significant influence on employee performance. This finding demostrates important aspect of employee performance in the Pamekasan Regency Government. The three predictor variables proposed in this study, the variable that has the most dominant influence is OCB, which is 50.7% can improve employee performance. Thus, for the government as the holder of power and policy maker to make meaningful decisions or formulate policies in the Pamekasan Regency Government. The components that have both work motivation and OCB proposed as predictors in this study must be given priority in policy implementation. This is because they play an important role in influencing the performance of Pamekasan Regency Government employees. based on the analysis and outcome of this study, the models that can be developed are as follows.

V. CONCLUSION
Based on the statistical test has been done, it can be concluded as follows: 1. Organizational culture has no significant effect on employee performance at Pamekasan Regency Government. 2. Work motivation has significant effect on employee performance at Pamekasan Regency Government. 3. OCB has significant effect on employee performance at Pamekasan Regency Government.


Impact of Facebook Usage on Firm’s Performances among Malaysian Chinese Retailers

Social media including Facebook has been acknowledged to play a vital role in firms achieving superior performance. Malaysia is a multicultural country in which the Malaysian Chinese are considered to be the most successful entrepreneurs. There is, however, a lack of research regarding the influence of Facebook usage on firm performance among Malaysian Chinese retailers. As such, this study had two aims. Firstly, the study investigated the influence of compatibility, cost effectiveness, trust, and interactivity on Facebook usage among Malaysian Chinese retailers. Secondly, the study assessed the impact of these retailers’ Facebook usage on their perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors under the moderating impact of market turbulence. This study developed a conceptual model based on the Strategic Contingency Theory (SCT) and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, and used a structured survey instrument to gather data. Using non-probability sampling techniques, 129 Malaysian Chinese retailers from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were recruited for the study. Data was analysed using PLS-SEM techniques. The results showed that only compatibility, cost effectiveness, and interactivity have a statistically significant positive influence on Facebook usage, which in turn has a statistically significant positive influence on the retailers’ perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors. Moreover, market turbulence was only found to be a moderator that improves the impact of Facebook usage on perceived financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors, but not perceived non-financial performance. These findings contribute to current literature and provide insights into the role and importance of Facebook usage on firm performance among Malaysian Chinese retailers, possibly encouraging more retailers to deploy social media in their business processes.

to meet consumers' perception, entrepreneurs should consider using social media as a marketing communication strategy (Gunwoo et al., 2018). Social media can become a customer relationship management tool that helps entrepreneurs to enhance or achieve higher business performance (Peerayuth & Pakamon, 2017). By utilising tools offered by social media applications, businesses are able to gain invaluable insights regarding users' information such as demographic, interests, and usage which will allow them to create customised content for these users (He et al., 2015). By using social media like Facebook, businesses can also share, tag, message, comment and notify to promote their products or services .
Nowadays, social media such as Facebook or Instagram are gaining popularity as platforms for business promotion. According to a survey in 2013, more than half of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) use social media (55.3%) to promote their products or services with particularly through Facebook (Dzisi & Ofosu, 2014). They also found that SMEs are also more likely to use Facebook than a corporate website due to convenience and cost factors. Lastly, social media helps SMEs in obtaining a competitive edge and to grow their business by building strong relationships with customers (Ahmad et al., 2018;Cheng & Shiu, 2018).
In recent years, the retail sector has contributed substantially to Malaysia's economic growth. Retail sales' growth contributed to Malaysia's 3 rd place ranking in the 2017 Global Retail Development Index. The retail sector has been acknowledged as one of the most active industries in the Malaysian economy that contributed significantly to Malaysia's tax income and has also created important and significant employment opportunities (Nair et al., 2014). According to Retail Group Malaysia, the retail sector's total sales for 2018 was projected to more than double as compared to 2017 (4.7% growth or RM104.4bil in 2018 as compared to 2% growth in 2017 (Cheng & Shiu, 2018). Besides being a major contributor to Gross National Income (GNI), the retail sector is also one of the major contributors to Malaysian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (14.9% of Malaysian GDP in 2016) (Nathan, 2017). The retail market was expected to grow by 6% in 2018 by depending on election results, the strength of Malaysian Ringgit and external demand for domestic products (Yee, 2017). Out of Malaysia's population of 32.049 million, 20.7% are Chinese (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2017). Malaysian Chinese tend to be more active in business and are more dominated in most industries in Malaysia. Minai et al. (2012) indicated that Malaysian Chinese were most of the SMEs owners in Malaysia. According to Jamil et al. (2014), the Malaysian Business in 1991 reported that Chinese owned businesses made up 82% of the wholesale trade, 50% of the construction sector, 40% of the manufacturing sector and 58% of retail trade. Besides, according to Nonini (2013), even with racial inequalities, Chinese entrepreneurs have managed to find success in doing business in Malaysia. Shi & Au-Yeung (2015) have also noted that Chinese retailers are more entrepreneurial and are more receptive to using innovation to gain a competitive advantage. Therefore, this study focused on the Chinese retailers in Malaysia.
However, most of the Malaysian Chinese retailers conduct their business through online platforms. One of the major issues faced by Malaysian Chinese SMEs in pursuing online business is consumer confidence. Statistics from Royal Malaysian Police show that the number of online fraud or cheating cases increased more than twofold between 2014 and 2016 (from 1,026 cases in 2014 to 2,497 cases in 2016 (Vijainaren, 2017). According to Star Online, the Kuala Lumpur Commercial Crime Investigation Department showed there were 139 cases of online loan scams amounting to RM3.7mil of losses for that department alone in 2017 (Letters, 2018). Therefore, in order to reduce fraud and increase online consumers' confidence, it is necessary for SMEs to adopt the latest information technologies of the digital world (Ghobakhloo et al., 2012). To remain competitive, traditional retailers need to embrace technology. As stated previously, retailers are increasingly using social media to promote their products or services. Retailers are even using Facebook tracking to learn about consumers' behaviours to keep strong loyalty relationship with them (Siganul et al., 2015). In developed countries like UK, social media is used to analyse consumers' behaviour that assists the retailers to formulate sustainable businesses' strategies (Gajewski, 2013).
The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of compatibility, cost effectiveness, trust, and interactivity on Facebook usage, as well as to demonstrate the impact of Facebook usage on perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors under the moderating impact of market turbulence among Malaysian Chinese retailers. The main research questions of this study are, 1. What is the impact of compatibility, cost effectiveness, trust, and interactivity on Facebook usage? and 2. How does Facebook usage impact perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors under the moderating impact of market turbulence?
The remaining sections of this paper are arranged as follow. The next section describes the development of framework and hypotheses based on the underpinning theories and existing literature respectively. After this, there is methodology section followed by discussion and implications, and lastly there are limitations and future recommendations.

Ⅱ. Underpinning Theories and Development of Theoretical Framework
This study's theoretical framework has been established by integrating Strategic Contingency Theory (SCT) and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI). SCT is related to the market turbulence to predict the business growth. SCT states that external factors such as market turbulence and other external business environmental conditions also impact the performance of businesses (Pfeffer & Salanciak, 1978).
The DOI theory refers to the intention to and the stage of adoption of technology (Doyle et al., 2014). Innovation refers to changes in the adoption of use media or media sites . Facebook and Twitter are types of social network sites that can be considered as the parts of the innovation (Archibald & Clark, 2014). The innovation of Facebook can affect a business' performance by providing an effective competitive advantage through its use (Abbas & ul Hassan, 2017). This research is focused on Malaysian SMEs in the retail industry. Using DOI theory this research examined how SMEs use Facebook to increase their success in the retail industry.
This research has considered factors such as compatibility, cost effectiveness, trust, and interactivity as the antecedents of Facebook usage. Studies have shown that merely examining Facebook usage as other factors such as changing customer perception, advancement in technology, and intense competition will affect a business' success (Chi, 2015). Therefore, based on SCT, market turbulence needs to be examined as a moderator to facilitate Facebook usage and firms' performance relationships in this study. Facebook usage is the independent variable (IV) including perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors are dependent variables (DV). The hypothesized model for this study is shown in Figure 1 as below: Upon reviewing other relevant studies, several hypotheses have been developed to differentiate the causal links between Facebook usage, market turbulence, and perceived business success which are described as follow: Ⅲ . Development of Hypotheses

A. Impact of Compatibility on Facebook Usage
Facebook's innovation allows the users to post their photos and interests in timelines like an online diary or photo book. Along with the rapid improvement of the smart phone, Facebook's innovation identified closely to adopter's life situation which made its compatibility high (Rogers, 2010). Besides, compatibility in this context refers to how easily a firm is able to adopt social media applications within its existing infrastructure and applications thereby minimizing costs for the firms (Sharif et al., 2015). For example, Facebook's open graph application allows 3 rd party applications and websites to be integrated into its infrastructure such that these 3 rd party applications and websites can interact as Facebook content (Hillis et al., 2015). In this manner, firms do not need to spend time to gain resources to create extra content just for Facebook. An innovation which is compatible with sociocultural values and beliefs will increase its chances of adoption while the opposite is true for incompatible innovations (Zolkepli & Kamarulzaman, 2015). The compatibility of social media is a strong factor to its adoption by businesses because it can be easily integrated into a business' marketing strategy (Barnes & Jacobsen, 2013). Moreover, by integrating social media in its marketing, businesses are able to more accurately target their niche customers through the sharing of their products and services (Derham et al., 2011). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is developed: H1: There is a positive impact of compatibility on Facebook usage among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

B. Impact of Cost Effective on Facebook Usage
Other than implementation of knowledge management, SMEs also use social media to drive innovation (Soto-Acosta et al., 2017). According to He et al. (2015), users tend to post their interests or experience on social media sites. By analysing this data, businesses are able to gain valuable knowledge and insight at a lower cost as compared to collection and analysis of traditional data. The most cost-effective strategies of marketing is using social media (Hassan et al., 2015). Social media as a marketing tool can directly influence customers at relatively low costs (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Therefore, business start-ups do not need a large budget to utilise social media (Michaelidou et al., 2011). Other than cost effectiveness, SMEs can make better strategy decisions through analysis of consumer behaviour on social media (Liu et al., 2013). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is established: H2: There is a positive impact of cost effectiveness on Facebook usage among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

C. Impact of Trust on Facebook Usage
Facebook is a website where users are free to comment and share opinions. Therefore, Facebook is perceived to be a trustworthy medium for the hospitality and tourism industry (Munar & Jacobsen, 2013). As Facebook affects users' trust, it helps firms to attract social capital and convert into corporate social performance so that firms may use money to allocate and control its social media presence (Paniagua & Sapena, 2014). Trust in an online vendor is an important factor for users when they are assessing risk (McCole et al., 2010). By allowing interaction amongst users, social media is able to increase trust which directly influences a user's intention to buy (Hajli, 2014).Trust gained through social media has been shown to be robust even through differing cultures with differing backgrounds and history (Pentina et al., 2013). Thus, in order to improve the trust in information of social media, Facebook has taken steps to strengthen its ability to detect and identify fake or disputed news and information (Mosseri, 2016). According to Erkan and Evans (2016), electronic word of mouth in social media increases credibility of a product or service and it has a strong influence on a consumers' purchase intentions (Erkan & Evans, 2016). Social media's ability to allow instant messaging between seller and buyer also increases trust in the seller and influences buyers' purchase intention and satisfaction (Kwahk et al., 2012;. Based on the above, the following hypothesis is created: H3: There is a positive impact of trust on Facebook usage among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

D. Impact of Interactively on Facebook Usage
As the name suggests, social media's role as a communication medium has been increased significantly through its interactive communication like discussions, sharing opinions and information, and asking questions (Cozma & Chen, 2013;Rauniar et al., 2014). Social media has also been found to increase customer satisfaction through its personalised form of targeting and one-to-one customer interaction (Okazaki & Taylor, 2013). Moreover, Social media is able to promote customer engagement because it provides easy access to online content (Valck et al., 2009;Laer et al., 2013), as well as providing ease of interaction between a business and the customer which is a strong and significant influence to social media usage (SNS) (Kaye & Johnson, 2017). Social media contains interactivity factor that offers product and service between buyers and sellers which may build brand image (Hudson et al., 2016). Therefore, social media if used properly allows for faster two-way communication which can create more personalised interactions between buyers and sellers which would usually lead to more "positive" results (Agnihotri et al., 2016). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is established: H4: There is a positive impact of interactivity on Facebook usage among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

E. Impact of Facebook Usage on Financial Performance
From the viewpoint of management, business success is related to financial performance (Kim et al., 2018;Ganyaupfu, 2013). Social media can impact financial performance by allowing users to gauge the market and anticipate demand through social media likes or follow (Paniagua & Sapena, 2014). Ashley and Tuten (2015) indicated firms use social media (Facebook) as the marketing tool to pursue the higher profit and sales. Moreover, the differentiation or cost effective strategy has an indirect but important impact on the firm's performance (Teeratansirikool et al., 2013). Businesses which increase their involvement with social media have experienced more sales (Kumar et.al., 2016). Similarity, social media is playing an increasing important role especially for small business at present because it creates better awareness of brand and better relations to gain the sales and repeat sales for small business (Jones et al., 2015).
Based on the above, the following hypothesis is created: H5: There is a positive impact of Facebook usage on financial performance among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

F. Impact of Facebook Use on Non-Financial Performance
Increased interactivity by using social media will also affect user opinions which have both financial and non-financial impacts (Agostino & Sidorova, 2016) According to Abdallah & Alnamri (2015), firms may improve their non-financial performance by promoting customers' satisfaction, enthusiasm employees' productivity and technological innovation. Social media also allows firms to customise branding or promotion to consumers' needs and wants through opinions and feedbacks about their current products (Paniagua & Sapena, 2014;Parveen et al., 2015). Facebook's feature allow the users to share content and comment shapes perception regarding a particular product (Hassan et al., 2015). Besides, customer satisfaction will be positively impacted by timely online management responses (Gu & Ye, 2014;Mucan & Özeltürkay, 2014). Social media has also been shown to increase brand loyalty as well as perception of brand quality (De Cristofaro et al., 2014). Another study in hospitality industry demonstrated that there was an important impact of Facebook usage on strengthening customer engagement (Virginia et al., 2013). Facebook users' purchase intentions were also found to be more easily influenced by user-generated and firm-created social media information which increased their perception on the brand (Gulati & Williams, 2013;Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is created: H6: There is a positive impact of Facebook usage on non-financial performance among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

G. Impact of Facebook Usage on Business Growth
The SMEs involving in tracking innovations will gain more growth and success compare to non-innovating firms (Love & Roper, 2015). A firm's innovation capability can have a positive impact on its business growth performance (Al-Ansari, 2014). Facebook is a technology tool that can enhance learning environment (Manca & Ranieri, 2013). Many businesses (e.g. hospitality firms and beauty companies etc) use social media such as Facebook to market product or service to grow their business (Kwok & Yu, 2013;Shen & Bissell, 2013). Besides, social media based on referrals also result towards a positive outcome as electronic word of mouth (Hudson et al., 2015;Ramsaran-Fowdar & Fowdar, 2013). For example, electronic word of mouth can have a positive impact on customer engagement or motivation for customers' purchase (Baker et al., 2016;Chu et al., 2018). Moreover, firms are also able to recruit more suitable employees through social media to promote their business growth (Paniagua & Sapena, 2014). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is established: H7: There is a positive impact of Facebook usage on business growth among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

H. Impact of on Facebook Usage on Perceived Performance Relative to Competitors
With the advancement of technology, the market is increasingly competitive (Sainaghi et al., 2013). Business needs and strategy will formulate the measurements for performance and these measurements should provide important information about processes, outputs, results, outcomes, competitors, and industry's performances (Evans, 2015). It is important to identify appropriate performance measures because accurate competitive strategy will affect the firm's performance (Teeratansirikool et al., 2013). Parveen et al. (2015) indicated that firms using social media technology have a distinct compettive advantage to their competitors.
A firm can achieve competitive advantage by creating unique and special value to avail all possible business opportunities to make profits (Pham, 2019).
Competitors' intensity requires the firms to adopt innovation to achieve the successful performances, and also can reduce the harm of market turbulence (Wang & Ke, 2016). By analysing a competitor's social media activity, a business is able to capture a competitor's strategies and find counters to it (Kumar et al., 2017). Based on the above, the following hypothesis is developed: H8: There is a positive impact of Facebook usage on perceived performance relative to competitors among Malaysian Chinese retailers.

I. Moderating Impact of Market Turbulence on Facebook Usage-Firm's Performance Relationship
Previous studies have examined the impact of market turbulence on firm's performance (Abbas & ul Hassan, 2017;Pratono & Mahmood, 2014). Pratono and Mahmood (2014) found a positive moderating impact of market turbulence on entrepreneurial management to achieve a superior firm's performance. Guo and Wang (2014) had also concluded that high levels of external turbulence forced firms to increase knowledge on innovation. Thus, market turbulence can moderate the impact of Facebook usage on firms'performace. On the other hand, Zhang et al. (2015) indicated market turbulence as antecedent rather than as a moderator. Whilst other show that market turbulence can bring opportunities by minimizing challenges through effective ways (Pratono & Mahmood, 2014). Additionally by examining the combined moderating influence of market turbulence and competitive intensity we are able to gain helpful insight of when a firm's innovative capability affects business performance (Tsai & Yang, 2013

Ⅳ. Methodology
This research was a co-relational study to determine the relationship among variables (Marczyk et al., 2017). The survey strategy was used to collect data. It was a cross-sectional study which examined the relationships of variables, as data were collected over the same period (Cooper & Schindler, 2014).

A. Population, Survey Instrument, Sampling Technique, and Sample Size
Malaysian Chinese retailers were the population of this study and data were collected from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. A standard questionnaire was used to collect data from target respondents. All the measures of constructs were adapted from existing studies. For instance, Compatibility, Cost Effectiveness, and Interactivity each measured with 3 items, Trust with 5 items, and Facebook Usage measured with 9 items, were adapted from Parveen et al. (2015). Likewise, 7 items to measure Market Turbulence were adapted from Peters et al. (2019). And the dependent variables namely financial performance measured with 4 items, non-financial performance with 3 items, business growth and performance relative  (2007). The snowball sampling technique of non-probability sampling was used, whereby questionnaires were passed to close networks such as family or friends and they then passed the questionnaires to their close contacts (Valerio et al., 2016).
We followed the recommendation of Hair et al. (2017) and used G*Power analysis to determine the sample size. This study used G*Power 3 software to determine the sample size. G*Power 3 software is the major extension and enhancement of the last versions (Faul et al., 2007). For this study's framework with four predictors, the minimum sample size of 85 was required to generate a power of 0.80 with the medium size f 2 effect (Hair et al., 2017), however, the researcher aimed to get maximum power of 95%, so the target sample size was set at 129 for this study.

B. Data Analysis Techniques
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyse demographic profiles of respondents and their firms. On the other hand, PLS-SEM was used to do inferential data analysis that refers to testing the hypotheses.

C. Descriptive Statistics
The respondents' demographics profiles and their firm's demographic profiles were analysed by using SPSS. There are more than 55% male respondents. The majority of respondents (43.4%) are between 31 to 40 years old, whereas 35.7% of the respondents were in the 21 to 30 age bracket and this shows that younger retailers are more likely to adopt technology to improve their businesses. The demographic profiles of respondents and their firms are shown in Table 1 and Table 2

D. Measurement Model Analysis
The assessment of measurement model evaluates the relationship between the indicators and their corresponding constructs (Hair et al., 2017). The measurement model assessment consists of the assessment of reliability, indicators' outer loading and composite reliability, testing of validity via Average Variance Extracted (AVE). The measurement model also consists of the assessment of discriminant validity though HTMT criterion (Hair et al., 2017). All the values of reliabilities and AVE were found above their cut off values as shown in Table 3. Henseler et al. (2015) also suggested the heterotrait-monotrait ratio (HTMT) to assess the discriminant validity. According to them, a maximum value of 0.9 indicates

E. Structural Model Analysis
The structural model is related to evaluating the predictive capabilities of the relationships from one construct to another (Hair et.al, 2017). Following the suggestions of Hair et al. (2017), VIF values, values of R 2 , f 2 , and Q 2 , as well as significance and relevance of the structural model relationships were assessed. The VIF values for all indicators were found below 5 which indicates that collinearity is not any issue between the indicators in collected data (Hair et al., 2017). The R2 values of endogenous constructs were found in range of 0.292 to 0.546 which indicate moderate to substantial predictive power. The results of f2 effect sizes' values were found in the range of 0.001 and 0.305 where Trust had the least effect and Interactivity had the highest effect on Facebook usage. Whereas, all the f2 values were above 0.15 for the Facebook usage on firms' performances, therefore, it has either medium to high importance for achieving the firm's performances. In addition, all the Q2 values were found above 0 with range between 0.171 to 0.276 that revealed the medium predictive relevance of Facebook usage for all endogenous constructs.
The significance and relevance of the constructs were assessed by PLS-SEM through bootstrapping by using 1000 re-samples. The results of all hypotheses  are shown as below in Table 5. Table 5 represents the direct impact of COM on FB. The results of H1 is supported as t-value is more than 1.645 (β = 0.182, t = 2.029). This means the positive impact of COM on FB is significant. The results of H2 is supported due to high t value (β = 0.287, t = 3.719). This means the positive impact of CEF on FB is significant. However, the result of H3 is not supported due to non-significant value of t (β = 0.022, t = 0.269). This means that positive impact of Trust on FB is not significant. The results of H4 is supported (β = 0.433, t = 6.814) which shows the positive and significant impact of INT on FB. The result of H5 is also supported (β = 0.437, t = 6.664) which reveals that the positive influence of FB on FP is significant. The finding of H6 is also supported (β = 0.460, t = 6.597) showing the that positive impact of FB on NFP is significant. The result of H7 is supported (β = 0.515, t = 7.927) which reveals that the positive influence of FB on BG is significant. The result of H8 is supported as well (β = 0.530, t = 8.075) indicating that the positive influence of FB on CP is significant.
Among the four hypotheses regarding the moderating influence of MT on the relationship between Facebook usage and firm's performances, only three hypotheses are supported. For instance, the finding of H9 reveals that β = 0.203 and t = 2.257 which shows that MT positively as well as significantly moderates the impact of Facebook usage on FP, means that the Facebook usage on FP relationship could be enhanced only when the MT is high.
On the other hand, the result of H10 shows that β = 0. 150 and t = 1.545 which shows that MT does not moderate the influence of Facebook usage on NFP. The result of H11 (β = 0.139, t = 1.67) and H12 (β = 0.211, t = 1.880) show that MT positively and significantly moderates the influence of Facebook usage on BG and CP, means that the Facebook usage on BG and CP relationships could be enhanced only when the MT is high.

Ⅴ. Discussion and Implications
The hypotheses from H1 to H4 were related to research question 1 regarding the impact of compatibility, cost effectiveness, trust, and interactivity on Facebook usage. This study has found that the factor of compatibility has significant positive effect on Facebook usage (H1) which is consistent with findings of some other studies as well El-Gohary, 2012;Wang et al., 2010). Firms (SMEs) should adopt social media compatible with existing goals, infrastructure and applications, values, goals, beliefs of organization and even innovation. The compatibility of the social media (Facebook) can utilize the marketing strategies with minimum cost to target the customers. Likewise, results revealed that cost-effective factor has positive impact on Facebook usage (H2) which is in line with other studies Chong & Chan, 2012;Alam & Noor, 2009). Compared with larger organisations, SMEs have smaller budgets, so they require a cost-effective approach for their business. Social media is the most cost-effective approach for SMEs because they can use it as a marketing tool to offer customer service to reach big audiences as well as analyse the behaviour of customers.
Some scholars indicated that sharing reliable, credible, and accurate information could be beneficial for businesses. However, increasing online fraud or cheating cases creates uncertainty and risk and resulted in lower trust. By using social media as marketing medium tool, businesses in our study might not have considered security or privacy factors for customers that could result in loss of trust. In addition, the method of information delivery in social media where users are not able to allocate and control social media content which resulted in unreliable, incredible and inaccurate information. Thus, based on above reasons, trust does not lead towards Facebook usage (H3) because people have a lack of trust on online and social media platforms that is consistent with some other researchers' studies Wu & Liu, 2007). On the other hand, interactivity factor was found to have its positive impact on Facebook usage (H4) which is consistent with other studies such as  and Lee & Kozar (2012). This is because interactivity fosters two-ways communication to allow businesses to engage with customers ( Van Laer et al., 2013), but also builds image of products by offering products and services through social media (Hudson et al., 2016).
The hypotheses from H5 to H12 were related to research question 2 regarding the impact of Facebook usage on perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth, and perceived performance relative to competitors under the moderating impact of market turbulence. Results also revealed the positive and significant influence of Facebook usage on firm's financial (H5) and non-financial performances (H6) as well as on business growth (H7) and performance relative to competitors (H8) as well. Businesses use social media (Facebook) as a marketing medium to attain superior performances. These results are also consistent with some other studies that have also found the positive impacts of Facebook usage on firms' performances Shuai & Wu, 2011;Stone et al., 2007;Apigian et al., 2005).
Furthermore, this study has also found the positive and significant moderating influence of market turbulence on the relationship between Facebook usage and financial performance (H9), Facebook usage and business growth (H11), as well as Facebook usage and performance relative to competitors (H12) as well. This means that turbulence in the existing market improves the influence of Facebook usage on financial performance, business growth, and performance relative to competitors. In other words, the businesses can show improvements in their financial performances, business growth, and performance relative to competitors only when the turbulence is higher in markets. The positive and significant moderating impacts of market turbulence are consistent with many other studies that also reported positive and significant moderating influence of market turbulence (e.g, Peters et al., 2019), however, the non-significant or weak moderating influence of market turbulence with non-financial performance (H10) is also consistent with other researchers who also did not find the moderating impacts of market turbulence under different contexts (e.g, Wardi et al., 2018;Feng et al., 2017).
This study's results have important practical implications for retailers because they provide very useful insights to retailers to achieve superior firms' performances by using Facebook in the turbulent market conditions. Retailers can use Facebook as a marketing tool due to low contact costs, customized and targeted ads, instant customers' feedback, referrals through word-of-mouth, and positive effect on buyers' behaviour (Ramsaran-Fowdar & Fowdar, 2013). However, Facebook users may ignore Facebook ads and be sick of overwhelming their walls with advertisements and breaches of privacy and misuse of data by third parties. In order to achieve maximum return on investment in Facebook marketing, the firms need to invest effort, staff costs, and time in Facebook marketing. This is because the loyal customers are more likely to connect with businesses through social media, thus, it depends on retailers how they can foster greater customers' loyalty as well as possibility to buy their products in future. Since the customers use Facebook for product information and to find out special promotions, thus, retailers have to make sure to provide updated information to the customers regarding their products required by the customers. The Facebook marketing strategy can work very well if the retail firms join the target community and engage themselves as friends to customers and build trust-based relationships with customers. Therefore, retail firms must have to ensure that they strictly follow the laws related to privacy and that private information is not misused by third parties to damage individuals. Since Facebook is emerging as a new marketing tool for firms to create the awareness regarding their brands, therefore, retailers have to introduce new marketing approaches and tactics that should be different from traditional ones. Thus, the retailers are required to learn new strategies of communication to maintain and enhance long-term relationships with the existing customers and need to plan strategy to target new customers through Facebook. Retailers should use Facebook as a marketing strategy because it enables the dissemination of information between firms and customers as well as between networks of customers too (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). This social platform is not only useful for retailers to promote their products but is also important to develop and maintain long-term relationships with target customers.
In summary, following are some of the advantages for retailers from their Facebook business pages.
1. Retailers can create the brand awareness through Facebook and their businesses' presence can assist them in gaining exposure to potential customers. 2. By posting the links of Facebook business pages on websites, retailers can drive website traffic by increasing the online visits. 3. Retailers can target the specific demographics based on age, location, interests, and gender advertising. 4. Retailers can build their marketing lists by gathering email addresses of Facebook users through their Facebook business pages. 5. Retailers can use Facebook pages as a mechanism to provide good customer service and to get feedbacks from their customers because Facebook permits two-way communication between them and customers. They can even use the messaging service to directly deal with their customers. The comments and reviews are the best ways to collect customers' feedbacks and to look for areas for making further improvements. 6. Retailers can monitor as well as improve their products and services by using data from their "Facebook Insights" of pages to plan for future.

Ⅵ. Limitations and Future Recommendations
Some of the limitations of this study include the specific target sample (Malaysian Chinese retailers), sampling method (i.e, snowball sampling technique), subjective measures of firm's performances, and collecting data from similar type of respondents. To overcome these limitations, the future studies should be conducted among all Malaysian ethnic groups including Malaysian Chinese, Malay, and Malaysian Indian entrepreneurs. Also in future studies, researchers should strive to get list of SMEs to employ random sampling technique. Future studies are also suggested using objective data to measure firm's performances and collecting data from different types of respondents.


s2fieldsofstudy: Business Economics

text:
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTERIM FINANCIAL REPORTING IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE

Kratkoročno finansijsko izveštavanje predstavlja proces pripremanja, sastavljanja i obelodanjivanja finansijskih izveštaja za periode kraće od godinu dana. Najčešće se govori o polugodišnjem i kvartalnom izveštavanju. U mnogim državama kratkoročno finansijsko izveštavanje obavezno je za preduzeća čijim se hartijama od vrednosti trguje na organizovanom tržištu i regulisano je kako nacionalnim propisima iz oblasti tržišta kapitala, tako i međunarodnom regulativom, pre svega MRS 34 i EU Direktivom o transparentnosti. U ovom radu se analizira pravni okvir kratkoročnog finansijskog izveštavanja u deset država jugoistočne Evrope. Uprkos kontinuiranom procesu harmonizacije računovodstvenih propisa i činjenici da su sve posmatrane države prihvatile MRS/MSFI, analiza je pokazala da su razlike u pogledu kratkoročnog izveštavanja i dalje prisutne i značajne. One naročito dolaze do izražaja kod država koje nisu članice Evropske unije i u segmentima u kojim je međunarodna regulativa ostavila fleksibilnost nacionalnim propisima. Rezultati ovog istraživanja mogu da budu od značaja za investitore, regulatore i buduće istraživače koji se budu bavili kvalitetom kratkoročnog finansijskog izveštavanja.

Introduction
Financial reporting should not be observed merely as a legal obligation imposed by regulatory authorities. It is an important segment in creating trust between the reporting entity on the one hand and all other stakeholders on the other. This is especially pronounced on the capital market, as financial statements can serve to reduce information asymmetry and thus create a favorable environment for investment activities.
The rapid development of corporate business and the development of the capital market triggered by the industrial revolution have led to the development of new methods and forms of financial reporting. The separation of management from ownership function in the company and often expressed dispersion of ownership have strengthened the importance of financial reporting and increased the need to take accountability for company performance. This was accompanied by the business complexity and the changing business environment, so the period of one year became too long for stakeholders to be without information about company's operations.
Indeed, the importance of timeliness and availability of financial position information has led many countries to define, through their national laws, mandatory semiannual reporting, and even quarterly in some cases. This should allow financial statement users to have significant and up-to-date information for making business decisions. However, despite the existence of international regulations in the field of interim financial reporting and the tendency to reach harmonization in the reporting across the countries, differences remain in national regulations, but also in their implementation. This makes reporting more difficult for entities which operate in more than one country, and for users to understand the disclosed information, as well.
With this in mind, we will analyze the legal framework for interim financial reporting in ten Southeast European countries -Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, focusing on companies whose securities are traded on a regulated market.
The analysis has two objectives. First, to determine the extent to which national legislation differs among the observed countries and second, to designate whether the national legislation is compliant with the international regulations.
The paper contains three parts. The first part gives a brief overview of the interim reporting development and its benefits for internal and external users. The second part is a presentation of the relevant international regulations, while the third part presents the results of the analysis, i.e., a review of the interim reporting requirements in Southeast Europe. Finally, the last section presents concluding remarks followed by a list of references.
The need for interim financial reporting (IFR), i.e., reporting for periods shorter than one year, first arose with internal users. Namely, improving business performance forecasting, value creation control, and identifying operational and financial risks required information that went beyond the scope of the annual financial statements.
In addition, internal users also needed information on individual profit centers, products, points of sale, and all that more often than once a year.
By accepting the changes that were inevitable, the redefinition of traditional governance systems was becoming increasingly imperative. In modern business context, performance management requires more flexibility and more qualitative indicators, in addition to the inevitable quantitative benchmarks. Moreover, creating and maintaining a competitive position in the market entails developing an early warning system and more effective control in the value creation and implementation plans. Managers were aware that rapid response to emerging business conditions is not only a prerequisite for creating a competitive advantage, but also a prerequisite for survival in the market, so they have demanded greater support from the information system. This support was reflected in more frequent reporting and in a form tailored to the needs of users and for different business segments. In that way, interim financial reporting was developing, though not legally established for the internal users' needs; the reporting form is flexible, and it usually contains relevant non-financial information, in addition to financial. However, while the value of timely information for owners and managers is indisputable, and therefore the importance of IFR, there are also some risks that should be borne in mind, such as the possibility of managerial myopia and neglected value creation in the long term [11].
Some of the companies that have operated successfully have started voluntarily to publish their interim reports to show external users that the activities they undertake are in line with the plan and positive results. Meanwhile, investors' aspirations to minimize the information gap, relative to internal users, have also led to mandatory external interim reporting in most countries. The United States of America (USA) has the longest history of external interim reporting, where the New York Stock Exchange advocated the introduction of interim reporting in the early 20th century. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) formally introduced this obligation immediately after World War II 2 . According to Mensah and Werner research [23], Canada has followed the United States and introduced the requirement for quarterly reports in 1971. In Europe, the London Stock Exchange was among the first that required semi-annual reporting, but the UK, like Austria, formally adopted IFR through the Accounting Standards Board only in 1997. Numerous analyses of the interim reporting benefits can be found in the existing literature, but it seems that authors have most often investigated the impact on information asymmetry and capital costs.
If we observe information asymmetry from the aspect of the capital market, through the relationship between managers and investors, then it represents a factual situation, which all participants are aware of. However, in a modern, dynamic and competitive environment, financial reporting is a way of communicating with investors and other stakeholders and has influence on company's reputation. But, that financial reporting role also carries significant risk. In the communication process, everyone wants to make a good impression to the other side, and so does the company's management on investors. This tempts reporting entities to present the real situation better than it is. This is probably the reason due to which previous research about the impact of financial reporting frequency on information asymmetry has not led to the same conclusions. There are a number of authors who confirm the hypothesis that more frequent financial reporting reduces information asymmetry between managers and investors [3], [6], [22]. However, we should not overlook the authors who believe that more frequent financial reporting opens more space for more sophisticated investors to profit from the private information they have [14].
When it comes to the relationship between financial reporting and cost of capital, it is of great importance to reporting entities, regulators and investors themselves. Systemic risk-based capital appreciation models, such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and portfolio theory, always emphasize the importance of identifying risk that can be diversified and one that cannot. With this in mind, for financial reporting researchers, it has been a challenge for years to prove whether accounting information can have an influence on costs of capital. If the cost of capital is seen as an expected return on shares [12], then it is logical to assume, in line with economic theory, that more frequent and better disclosure of information would have the effect of better assessing investment opportunities and reducing uncertainty. Numerous studies support the existence of a negative relationship between disclosure levels and cost of capital. Botosan [2] points out that more information provides higher market liquidity, thereby reducing capital costs, either by reducing transaction costs or by increasing demand for securities. In addition, he suggests that a higher degree of publication reduces the risk associated with investor ratings of return on investment. Although IFR plays a major role in protecting investors and reducing uncertainty, it should be borne in mind that these benefits are only achieved through high quality reporting, especially since the interim financial statements are not usually audited, contain considerable estimates and are subject to seasonal variations. In order to minimize these risks, it is important to follow best practices and professional regulations when designing them.
The need for developing unified and generally accepted reporting standards was especially evident in the post-World War II period when there was a more intensive capital flow movement among the countries. Existence of differences in national regulations makes financial reporting more difficult and more expensive for companies that operate in different countries. However, those differences limit the analysis and represent an obstacle to foreign investors and other users of financial statements. The globalization process has accelerated the harmonization of accounting regulations. It is difficult to achieve a full harmonization, but not some general principles that would be acceptable to a larger number of countries. Because of its importance, IFR is, in addition to national regulations, regulated by international regulations, and below is a review of the most important requirements.
As in the case of all other International accounting standards (IAS) and International financial reporting standards (IFRS), IAS 34 is applicable only if it is mandatory to apply IAS/IFRS under national or some other international regulations (e.g., European Directives for Member States). Furthermore, for this standard to be applicable and purposeful, it is also necessary that there is an obligation or reporting entities' will to compile and present financial statements for periods shorter than one year. Both conditions must be met.
The standard does not mandate which entities are required to prepare interim financial reports, how frequently, and in what time after the end of that period they need to disclose their reports. However, many countries have mandated interim financial reporting by their national legislation. In some countries, it is mandatory for all companies; in some it depends on the industry or the size of the company, while in almost all countries this obligation is imposed on companies whose securities are traded on a regulated market. Bearing in mind the representation and importance of IFR, it was justified to regulate this segment of financial reporting through IAS.
The objective of IAS 34 is to prescribe the minimum content of interim financial reports and to prescribe the principles for recognition and measurement in complete or condensed financial statements for an interim period [16]. Timely and reliable interim financial reporting improves the ability of investors, creditors and other users to understand the ability of the entity to generate profit and cash flow, financial circumstances, and performances of the entities.
By this standard, the International Accounting Standards Committee encourages publicly traded companies to provide interim financial statements and [16]: (a) to do that at least as of the end of the first half of their financial year, and (b) to make their interim financial statements available not later than 60 days after the end of the interim period.
Given that the interim financial statements update the data from the last annual reports, their focus should be on the events that occurred in the observed interim period, and may contain less information than the annual reports, respecting the principle of materiality. Nevertheless, the standard sets out the requirements that interim financial statements should meet to make the declaration of compliance with the standards justified. These requirements are presented in Figure 1.
The standard leaves it as an option for national legislation and the entities themselves to choose whether to prepare and publish a complete or condensed financial statements. Thereby, regardless of which set is in place, it should include all financial statements, and the complete or condensed set refers to the level of data breakdown in each of the individual statements. Depending on the observed statement, the comparable period of the previous year may be the same interim period from the previous year or the end of the previous year.
This standard has been applied since 1999 and has so far undergone three amendments. The first was in 2010 in terms of significant transactions and events. The second  Comparable year-to-date period of the immediately preceding financial year one in 2012 was related to segment reporting, and the third was in 2014 regarding disclosure of information in IFR.
The latest form of accounting practices harmonization is in the European Union (EU) regulations, which in addition to the EU Member States, are also applicable to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, which are members of the European Economic Area. Although the preparation of European directives began in 1965, the first directives were finalized almost twenty years later. The EU Directive, which primarily regulates the field of financial reporting, is the Directive on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports for certain types of enterprises [9]. With the adoption of that Directive, Directives 78/660/ EEC and 83/349/EEC, better known as the Fourth and Seventh Directives ceased to be valid. Also, from the aspect of financial reporting and the application of certain directives, the Regulation on the application of international accounting standards [32] is also important. The aim of the Regulation is the adoption and application of IASs in order to harmonize the financial data that companies publish, and ensure a high degree of transparency in the comparability of financial statements, plus efficient functioning of the capital market. This Regulation prescribes the mandatory implementation of the IAS/IFRS in the preparation of consolidated financial statements, while for the unconsolidated reports this obligation is not strictly prescribed. In addition to this Directive, the Transparency Directive is of great importance and is compulsory for companies whose securities are listed on the stock market.
The Directive on the harmonization of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market was adopted on 15 December 2004 and is often referred to as the Transparency Directive [8]. This Directive aims to improve the quality of information on issuers of securities having headquarters or operating activities on the territory of the European Union. Publication of accurate, comprehensive and timely information of issuers` financial position enables the higher level of trust among the users of the reports.
In this way, users -investors and other stakeholders can evaluate and analyze operating results based on timely information. This increases both the protection and the efficiency of the market. This Directive introduces a more comprehensive half-yearly reporting for the securities' issuers, and Member States can regulate issues from the scope of this Directive by additional and more stringent requirements. In accordance with the Directive, the issuer of securities is obliged to publish semi-annual financial statements as soon as possible, and at the latest within three months from the expiry of the reporting period. As well as annual, the semi-annual statements should be available to the public for a minimum of ten years. The content of semi-annual financial statements is shown in Figure 2.
The Reduce the administrative burden on small and medium-sized enterprises -issuers, in order to improve their access to capital, and • Improve the effectiveness of the transparency regime, in particular with regard to the disclosure of corporate information. These amendments extend the deadline for the publication of semi-annual reports from two to three months, as well as the availability of reports to the public from five to ten years. These changes had to be incorporated into national legislation by 26 November 2015.
In addition to the Transparency Directive, the European Parliament and the Council also adopted in 2007 a Directive on the establishment of more detailed rules for the implementation of the provisions of the Transparency Directive and the harmonization of the requirements for transparency [10]. The Directive states that in cases when semi-annual financial statements are not compiled in accordance with IAS, they must not lead to misunderstanding of the assets, liabilities, financial position, and profit or loss of the issuer. The content of the reports should ensure adequate transparency to investors through a regular flow of information about the results of the issuer, and this information should be presented in a way easily comparable with the information in the annual report. If the issuer publishes a condensed set of financial statements, and in the case when it is not obliged to prepare and publish them in accordance with IAS, then the condensed balance sheet and the condensed profit and loss statement (income statement) show at a minimum all headings and subtotals that were included in the latest annual financial statements. The reporting entity should include additional items if they are materially significant. The semi-annual reports must contain a comparative period data, which for the balance sheet is the end of the immediately preceding financial year, while for the income statement it is the same interim period of immediately preceding year. In addition, the condensed set should also include Notes to the financial statements to ensure the comparability of the period, and enough information that the user of the report can accurately understand all significant changes in the amount and all movements in the observed period.
As noted in the first part of the paper, the USA has the longest IFR tradition. Listed companies have been required to submit their quarterly sales reports since 1946. However, this practice was abolished in 1953, but the interruption lasted only two years, after which semi-annual reporting was introduced and the form on which companies were required to submit data was prescribed [34]. A few years later, the Stock Exchange reintroduced the requirement for quarterly reporting in the form of quarterly income statement. Shortly thereafter, the Accounting Standards Board issued an act introducing quarterly financial reporting 3 .
Today, the basis for IFR in the USA is in the Standard 270, which is intended to provide guidance regarding the disclosure of interim financial statements for listed companies, although this guidance may apply to other entities that report more often than once a year.
The standard itself does not oblige companies to report more frequently, but it also suggests that the listed companies should disclose information on financial positions, results of operations and cash flows on a monthly or quarterly basis [36]. Like IAS 34, US ASC 270 permits the application of condensed balance forms for standards.

Figure 2: Transparency Directive requirements for interim financial reporting
IFR, cumulatively from the beginning of the year or for each period individually, including adequate comparative data from the previous year. Also, the same accounting policies as for the last annual report are required, and any differences should be disclosed. However, there are some significant differences with respect to IAS 34 that are worth noting (Table 2).
Companies may choose to present less information in the interim financial statements than in the annual reports, but it is necessary to disclose following information [36]: Unless a balance sheet and a cash flow statement are provided in addition to the income statement, information on changes in the position of liquid assets, net working capital, long-term liabilities and share equity is required.
However, as in European countries, in the USA, mandatory interim financial reporting is imposed by regulations relating to the capital market. In the United States, the SEC, which is under the control of Congress, is responsible for regulating, monitoring, and applying accounting and reporting rules that listed companies must follow. The rules themselves are developed within the SEC and through oversight and cooperation with other bodies such as the Accounting Standards Board and the Emerging Issues Task Force. According to the SEC rules, quarterly reporting is mandatory for all listed companies and is done on a prescribed Form 10-Q that is not usually audited. Quarterly reports are submitted for the first three quarters, while the fourth quarter is actually an annual report. Deadlines for submitting quarterly reports are 40 or 45 days from the end of the quarter, depending on the company's public float. The form 10-Q has two parts. The first part relates to financial information and includes: a complete set of financial statements, management discussion, qualitative and quantitative market risk disclosures, and control procedures. The second part contains other information, such as legal procedures, risks, unregistered sale of the stock, etc. [37].
If the quarterly report is not submitted within the stipulated deadline, the company may submit, within 5 days, a form in which it also reports the reasons for the  IFR should be viewed in a discretionary manner. This means that each interim period should be presented as a separate reporting period.
An integrated approach is used, i.e., interim periods should be seen as an integrated part of annual reporting.
If an expense relates to more than one interim period, the cost should meet the definition of assets in order to be recognized as a deferred expense. In addition, accrued liabilities should be recognized as existing liabilities at the end of the interim period.
Certain expenses, which are related to several periods during the year, may be allocated to those periods to which they relate.
The standard suggests disclosure of a complete set of financial statements. In addition to the income statement, the standard suggests disclosure of balance sheet and cash flow statement.
It does not specify how frequently to report, but it suggests at least on a semi-annual basis.
It does not specify how frequently to report, but the standards talks about quarterly, and even monthly reporting. delay (usually when it comes to business combinations, during the audit process, etc.). However, failure to submit quarterly reports in the extended period can result in deregistration from the organized market and other legal consequences.
Previous studies in the field of IFR have largely been based on an analysis of developed countries with an active capital market. Based on the literature review, it seems that there are very few that have analyzed this area in countries where capital markets are less liquid, such as Southeast Europe (SEE). Of the ten analyzed countries, six came from the breakup of Yugoslavia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, and these countries had identical financial reporting practices until the early 1990s. However, in recent decades, the different dynamics of the economic development of these countries have also influenced different reporting requirements. In addition to these countries, the analysis also includes Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania 4 . All these countries are characterized by the dominance of the banking sector in relation to the capital markets, so the stock market turnover is significantly lower compared to the developed European countries. The average annual turnover in these countries in 2017 was around €2 billion, which is many times lower than the daily turnover on the London or German stock exchanges. In addition, most of the observed countries are still in the category of middle-income countries and their average GDP per capita is US$10,405 5 . Although they have an organized capital market, competent regulatory bodies and a regulatory framework, most SEE countries are characterized by political and macroeconomic instability, which certainly has a negative impact on the number of active investors. However, there are notable differences between these countries in terms of capital market and economic development. For example, ignoring Albania where stock trading has not yet developed, annual capital market turnover ranges from around €47.5 million in Montenegro to €15 billion in Greece. Furthermore, five out of ten countries are EU Member States, four have candidate status and one is a potential candidate. Given the importance of data transparency on the capital market development, we will analyze below the provisions of the regulatory framework applied to IFR in each of the mentioned countries.
In SEE countries, financial reporting is primarily regulated by the law on accounting and auditing or companies' law, depending on the country. Parallel to this, if we look at listed companies, financial reporting is additionally regulated by regulations in the field of capital market.
Non-EU countries voluntarily and in accordance with the recommendations of IAS 34 oblige companies whose securities are traded on a regulated market to report for a period shorter than one year, in addition to the annual financial reporting. On the other hand, EU Member States were obliged to comply with their national regulations in the previously stated way, in accordance with the relevant EU Directives. Accordingly, IFR is prescribed in all SEE countries, and the normative framework, although at first glance looks rather harmonized, still differs significantly, and there are also discrepancies between the relevant laws within the countries individually.
Considering the companies whose securities are traded on a regulated market, in all countries subjected to the analysis, the application of IAS is mandatory, even though some of the observed countries, such as Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, have developed their own national standards. However, in non-EU countries, this obligation applies to both unconsolidated and consolidated financial statements, while in EU Member States, under the Regulation [32], the application of IAS/IFRS for listed companies is mandatory when they prepare consolidated financial statements. But, Member States determine the rule for unconsolidated financial statements by their own national legislation and certain ambiguities may arise. For example, in Bulgaria, the Accountancy Act [1] stipulates that listed companies apply IAS/IFRS for annual reports and then, it is also stipulated that interim financial reports of those companies should be prepared by using the same standards as for annual statements. However, the Public Offering of Securities Act [30] leaves the possibility that individual financial statements do not comply with IAS/ IFRS. In Romania, IAS/IFRS also apply to the individual financial statements of listed companies since 2012, but capital market regulation still distinguishes between consolidated and unconsolidated statements. In Greece, the Greek Accounting Standards Act [17] prescribes the mandatory application of IAS/IFRS for listed companies. Slovenia stipulates that IAS/IFRS are not mandatory for individual (unconsolidated) interim financial statements.
In some countries, regarding the content of interim financial reports, the regulation provisions are not fully precise and clear. While in the Republic of Srpska (RS) [43] the law is precise in this respect, requiring a mandatory complete set of financial statements in accordance with IAS, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH), the Law on Securities [47] stipulates that the balance sheet and income statement have to be submitted, but in the Law on Accounting and Auditing [42] it is stipulated that all companies, including listed, have to submit a full set of financial statements (including Notes). Additionally, the regulatory body for securities in the FBIH also prescribed an obligatory form of interim financial statements, and the form envisages all five reports from the set. In Croatia, as well as in Serbia, it is stipulated that interim financial statements contain condensed financial statements in accordance with accounting standards [45], [46]. Slovenia has prescribed a condensed set of financial statements if the company is obliged to follow IAS, i.e., to consolidate the report, and if it does not follow international standards, then balance sheet, income statement and notes to the financial statements are mandatory [ In North Macedonia, it is stipulated that the interim financial statements are conducted in accordance with IAS, including all statements from the set, apart from Notes, which is contradictory, as the standard requires all five reports [20]. In Albania, the Law on Securities [19] stipulates the obligation of both semi-annual and quarterly reporting, and it is stated that the content of the report is prescribed by a special act. However, that act has not yet been adopted or is not available, and Albania still does not have a developed stock exchange where it is possible to trade with shares.
The interim management report is not defined by IAS, but by the Transparency Directive and is mandatory for all EU Member States as a part of semi-annual reporting. Consequently, this report is not mentioned in the national legislation of some non-EU SEE countries: Albania, BIH and North Macedonia. In other observed countries, the legal obligation for compiling and submitting this report is prescribed. In Croatia, it is stipulated that the report should contain all significant business events in the observed period, the expected future development of the company, research and development activities, information on the purchase of own shares, the existence of subsidiaries, information on financial instruments of the company, the goals and policies of the company in relation to risk management, risk exposure, and comments on individual positions in the financial statements [45]. In Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia and Romania, it is stipulated that the report should contain the main mid-year events and their impact on the outcome, a description of the main risks and uncertainties until the end of the year, and a description of transactions with related parties. In Serbia, the obligation to disclose this report has been defined by law for several years, while Montenegro, which is a candidate for EU membership as Serbia, has introduced this obligation by adopting the new Capital Market Law (end-2017), and in that way brought it closer to EU requirements. The compilation of this report for quarterly reports is on a voluntary basis, as the Directive does not require this degree of frequency.
The responsibility statement is the statement by those who are responsible for the information in the interim financial statements and interim management report that, according to their knowledge, reports are fair and true presentation of the development and results of the issuer's operations and position. The statement also includes a description of the risks and uncertainties. It is mandatory in the EU countries, which means in the five monitored SEE countries. Nevertheless, this obligation is also prescribed for listed companies in Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, but not in other SEE countries that are not EU members (Albania and BIH).
Consolidation of interim financial statements for companies that make up the group is mandatory if the last annual financial statements were consolidated. For the preparation and submission of consolidated interim financial statements, national legislation in some SEE countries prescribes somewhat longer deadlines than for semi-annual and quarterly individual financial statements. For example, in Bulgaria. the deadline for unconsolidated reports is 30 days, but for consolidated it is 60 days.
In accordance with international and domestic regulations, the audit of interim financial statements is not mandatory in SEE countries. An exception is Greece, where the Transparency Directive states that Greek-based companies submit semi-annual reports to an external auditor [35]. In all other countries, it can be done on a voluntary basis and in this case, issuers are obliged to submit an auditor's report. Otherwise, if the reports are not audited, the issuers are required to indicate that these are non-audited financial statements. It is interesting that in the six countries of the former Yugoslavia, of all companies that make stock exchange indexes within each country (about 150 companies), there is only one company that had an auditor's report for the semi-annual reports in 2017.
The reporting frequency varies between the countries. Semi-annual reporting for listed companies is prescribed in all countries. Although quarterly reporting is required neither by IAS/IFRS nor by European Directives, it is prescribed by national legislation in eight out of ten observed countries (either for certain or for all segments of capital market). As for the observed countries, quarterly reporting is optional only in Greece, North Macedonia and Slovenia. In North Macedonia, quarterly reporting was required until 2013 when it was repealed by amendments to the law. Similarly, in Greece it was mandatory until 2016. The deadlines for submission of quarterly reports range from  Based on the survey results, we can notice that although all countries have adopted IAS, there are still significant distinctions in regulations, but also deviations from the application of these standards. Consistent application of IAS implies disclosure of a complete set of financial statements, and from an analysis of national law provisions regarding the content of interim financial statements, we may remark that this is not the case in all countries.
These divergences in regulation suggest that there is a possible significant difference in the quality of IFR among the countries, especially if reporting practices deviate from the normative framework. This makes room for and justifies further research of the IFR quality.
Inadequate solutions in national regulations require particular caution on the part of the users of the reports and the responsibility of the regulators, since the financial statements are publicly available. In addition to the different regulation of the capital market, the unequal development of countries, the culture and the tradition of reporting, differences also exist due to the different status in the EU, i.e., the mandatory implementation of European directives.
Similar was concluded by Pervan et al. [24], who analyzed the financial reporting regulatory framework in the former Yugoslav countries in 2010, focusing on annual reports. Based on their analysis, they conclude that there are significant differences in reporting requirements, and that in addition to Slovenia (at that time the only EU Member State from amongst the analyzed countries), Croatia and North Macedonia have more harmonized regulations with EU requirements compared to BIH, Serbia and Montenegro, where significant room for harmonization existed at the time. In the meantime, from that survey till now, we note that most countries have changed their legislation to achieve greater alignment with international regulations, especially Serbia and Montenegro. However, it should be borne in mind that the incorporation of IAS/IFRS requirements and the Directive contributes to harmonization, but this does not necessarily mean high quality, if these requirements are not applied consistently.
The development of international regulation leads to a higher degree of harmonization of national regulations. However, this process is time-consuming and differences in certain segments inevitably exist. Analyzing the legal framework for interim financial reporting in Southeast Europe, we can come to the following conclusions.
First, in all analyzed countries, regardless of national accounting standards, listed companies apply IAS/IFRS. There is no doubt that consistent application of IAS 34 to interim financial statements would result in higher harmonization with regard to the content, recognition and valuation of the financial statements. However, an analysis of the real effects in Southeast Europe requires a detailed analysis of the quality of individual company reports, which is not the subject of this paper, but does provide room for further research.
Second, the Transparency Directive has led to more consistency within national regulations regarding the content and deadlines for the submission and availability of interim financial statements. Based on the analysis, we can see that in almost all EU Member States, the deadline for submitting semi-annual reports is three months and availability is ten years. In addition, it is noticeable that Serbia and Montenegro, as candidate countries, are approximating their regulations to EU requirements.
Third, significant differences exist in the segments where international regulation leaves flexibility to national legislation. An example of this is quarterly reporting. While it is not prescribed in some countries, in others it applies to all listed companies with short reporting deadlines.
Fourth, the differences are more significant between non-EU countries. We can notice that the regulations between Albania, BIH, Macedonia and Serbia are more different than, for example, regulations between EU Member States. Furthermore, in some non-member countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina or North Macedonia, we notice some contradictions in regulations, e.g., with respect to the mandatory content of the interim financial statements.
Although complete harmonization of regulations is probably impossible to achieve, primarily due to differences in the size of the capital market, the degree of economic development, tradition and willingness to compromise, it should be borne in mind that the business of most securities trading companies on the regulated market beyond national borders.
The non-uniformity of reporting regulations makes reporting more difficult, but also analyzing of financial statements, especially if there are differences in the procedures for valuation and recognition of financial statement items, or in the application of different reporting standards.